Art Nouveau

Art nouveau - French for “new art” was an
international art movement of style,
decoration and architecture used during the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

One
characterization of
this movement was
depictions of
flowers and vines,
also called foliate
forms. Many of
these forms were
used in mosaics.

These
examples
have been
found all
throughout
Europe and
America.

In Barcelona, two men named Antoni Gaudi and
Josep Jujol worked to produce beautiful ceramic
mosaics at Guell Park. They used a technique
known as trencadis in which tiles covered
surfaces of buildings. They also incorporated
broken dishes and other found objects such as
broken china dolls, which was a revolutionary
idea in art and architecture.

This plate was
placed in a
mosaic by
Jujol, that
came from his
own home.

One famous Austrian artist during this period
was Gustav Klimt. (1862-1918)

He is known to be one of the most important
exponents of art nouveau.

Use of silver and
gold in his work
may have been
from a result of
growing up
around his father
who was a gold
and silver
engraver.

Many beautiful
posters and
ads were
created by
designers
during the art
nouveau
period.

He was the first
poster artist to
use bold figures
popping out of
black
backgrounds,
which was a
startling contrast
to earlier posters.

Cappiello
produced more
than 530
advertising
posters in his
career.

Jewelry was
also influenced
by the art
nouveau
movement.

A major
contributor to the
art nouveau
jewelry scene
was a man
named Louis
Comfort Tiffany,
who founded
Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany’s art jewelry department
designed Jewelry that used romantic
curves, pictured in the brooch above.

The peacock
image was
popular in the art
nouveau
movement, and
Tiffany and Co.
used this in their
designs, such as
in this headdress
to the right.

Tiffany also started a new way of
glassmaking that combined different
colors of iridescent glass that made
hues never seen before.

Here is one of
Tiffany’s famous
glass lamps that
show beautiful colors
and free flowing
design.

Here you see a naturistic design with
dragonflies, that was also a popular in art
nouveau motif.

Art Nouveau style
can also be found
in Russia.

This painting was
done by
St.Petersburg
artist Leon Bakst
in 1910. Notice
the curvature and
flow in the
design.

A major Russian
art nouveau
architect was
Alexei Bubyr.
The building to
the left shows
the unique
window design
he created.

This is one of Bubyr’s
designs that was cut
into a granite fence.
He also used other
images such as birds,
stars and flowers.

Art nouveau has been reborn, and still
influences artist’s today.

This recent work is
by artist Chuck
Bordell. Notice the
imagery of human
(female) form
being portrayed.

Art nouveau’s short lived movement was very
influential, and will continue to inspire many future
generations of artists and designers to come.