ART NOUVEAU

INTRODUCTION

 Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture

and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most
popular during 1890–1910.

 The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art". It is known also as
Jugendstil, German for "youth style", named after the magazine Jugend.

 A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by

natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in
curved lines. Architects tried to harmonize with the natural
environment.

 It is also considered a philosophy of design of furniture, which was

designed according to the whole building and made part of ordinary
life.
ORIGIN

The origins of Art Nouveau are

found in the resistance of the
artist William Morris to the
cluttered compositions and
the revival tendencies of the
19th century and his theories
that helped initiate the Arts
and crafts movement.
 However, Arthur Mackmurdo's book-cover for Wren's City
Churches (1883), with its rhythmic floral patterns, is often
considered the first realization of Art Nouveau.

 About the same time, the flat perspective and strong colors of
Japanese wood block prints, had a strong effect on the
formulation of Art Nouveau.
 The Japonisme that was popular in Europe during the 1880s and
1890s was particularly influential on many artists with its organic
forms and references to the natural world.
HISTORY
 The style was influenced strongly by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, when
Mucha produced a lithographed poster, which appeared on 1 January 1895
in the streets of Paris as an advertisement for the play Gismonda.
 It popularized the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris.
Initially named Style Mucha, (Mucha Style), his style soon became known
as Art Nouveau.
 Art Nouveau was most popular in Europe, but its influence was global.
Hence, it is known in various guises with frequent localized tendencies.
 Magazines like Jugend helped publicize the style in Germany, especially as
a graphic art form,F. while the Vienna Secessionists
Champenois Imprimeur- influenced art and
architecture throughout Austria-Hungary.
Editeur, 1897 by Alphonse
Muca, a leading artist of the
Art Nouveau movement

An
advertisement
for the Art
Nouveau
gallery "La
Maison
Moderne" by
Alphonse Mucha prints
PHILOSOPHY

 Art Nouveau is now considered a 'total' style, meaning that it

includes a hierarchy of scales of design — architecture; interior
design; decorative arts including jewellery, furniture, textiles,
household silver and other utensils and lighting; and the visual
arts.

• According to the philosophy of the

style, art should be a way of life. For
many Europeans, it was possible to
live in an art nouveau-inspired
house with art nouveau furniture,
silverware, crockery, jewellery,
cigarette cases, etc.

• Artists desired to combine the fine

arts and applied arts, even for
utilitarian objects.
La tournée du Chat Noir avec
Rodolphe Salis (1896) by Théophile
Steinlen.
CHARACTER
 Although Art Nouveau acquired distinctly localized tendencies as its
geographic spread increased, some general characteristics are
indicative of the form.
 The term "whiplash" is frequently applied to the characteristic
curves employed by Art Nouveau artists.
 Such decorative "whiplash" motifs, formed by dynamic, undulating,
and flowing lines in a syncopated rhythm, are found throughout the
architecture, painting, sculpture, and other forms of Art Nouveau
design.
 Art Nouveau was also a style of distinct individuals such as Gustav
Klimt, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Alphonse Mucha, René Lalique,
Antoni Gaudí and Louis Comfort Tiffany, each of whom interpreted
it in their own manner.

Art Nouveau History - 'Acqua

Mossa' by Gustav Klimt
CHARACTERISTICS
 Flowing Lines: Art Nouveau is characterized by graceful, sinuous lines. The
lines are rarely angular.
 Violent Curves: Some artists referred to the curves in Art Nouveau works as
whiplash curves. Rhythmic patterns of curvy lines are characteristic of this art
style. These curvy lines connect the images in the art and can even be found
in beautified plain items, such as dishes, eating utensils, hardware and
furniture.
 Organic Subject Matter: You'll find plenty of flowers, leaves, vines, grass,
seaweed, insects and other organic images in Art Nouveau jewelry, hardware,
windows and architecture. Examples include images of birds etched into
window frames or curled around each other on fabric for upholstery, or
abstract lilies drifting around and connecting to each other on dinnerware.
CHARACTERISTICS

 New Materials: Instead of classic gemstones, Art Nouveau jewelers

opted to work with opals and semiprecious stones. Glass art reached a
new level of popularity as Louis Comfort Tiffany and Charles Rennie
Mackintosh took interest in the new art style. Molded glass, animal
horns and ivory tusks became commonly used materials.
 Resistance of Classical Restrictions: Instead of limiting art to
painting on a canvas or sculpting out of marble, Art Nouveau artists
and architects looked for ways to make everyday objects into pieces
of art. A doorknocker might be molded to look like a dragonfly; an
entranceway might be graced by vine-like lines in the molding. You
can find a classic example of this by studying the entrances designed
for the Paris Metro by Hector Guimard.
ART NOUVEAU IN ARCHITECTURE
 In Architecture, the Art Nouveau style particularly shows the synthesis of
ornament and structure. This type of architecture was characterized by a
liberal combination of materials – glass, iron, ceramic and brickwork –
which was employed in the creation of interiors in which beams and
columns became thick vines with spreading tendrils and the windows
became both opening for air and light and membranous outgrowths of
the organic whole.

 The buildings in the Art Nouveau style have many of the following
features: asymmetrical shapes, curved glass, extensive use of arches
and curved forms, mosaics, curving, plant like embellishemnts, stained
glass and Japanese motifs.

 A classic example would be given by Gaudi in Casa Mila (1905-1907)

which reproduces the way in which different parts appear organically
tied to the base plan.
ART NOUVEAU IN ARCHITECTURE

• Art Nouveau stressed a

complete creative freedom,
mixing fantastic elements
with a tendency to show all
utilitarian construction
elements as artistic value,
with very characteristic
elements such as dynamic,
undulating, and flowing lines
and geometrical ornaments.

• In Riga, Art Nouveau could be

split into two main directions,
decorative and romantic-
nationalistic Art Nouveau.
Art Nouveau in Riga
ART NOUVEAU IN ARCHITECTURE

Victor Horta,
Hotel Tassel, 1890s.
Casa Milà, 1905-1907
Casa Battlo
1905-1907

La Sagrada Familia Auditorium Theater Secession Hall (1897)

1882-2026 (1886-1890)
ATTRIBUTES
 The style of the Art Nouveau movement was one
based on elaborate ornamental motifs and natural
forms, often involving leaves, flowers, vines and long
female hair.
 The style often featured exotic details and showed
influences from many decorative art sources from
different parts of the world.
 It was often erotic and the concentration on
decorative pattern became an important step towards
the future development of abstract art.
 Painting was not the main medium for the Art Nouveau
style,
 Art as it was
Nouveau best embodied
history shows us inthat
decorative arts such
artists created an
as jewellery,style
international glass and
that interior
was design.
very much of the modern age.
 Painting did feature in the Art Nouveau Movement, but
more prominent than painting was the graphic arts
including illustration and poster design.
 Elements from this rapidly changing and developing period
were combined with ideas of spirituality, fantasy and
mythology to form a new style.
 The approach included the use of modern materials and
techniques, as well as valuing traditional craftsmanship.
 Leading artists in Art Nouveau history include the painter
Gustav Klimt, the illustrators Aubrey Beardsley and Walter
Crane, jewellery designer Rene Lalique, architects Antonio
Gaudi, Louis Sullivan, Henry Van de Velde and Victor Horta
and glassware designer Louis Tiffany.
ART NOUVEAU IN FURNISHING AND
HOME DECORATIONS

Furniture
 In general, the furniture
pieces had round, sinuous
and elegant lines. The
furniture has made out of
wood usually combined
with glass and metal.

 Some furniture pieces had

tapestry and stylish floral
patterns. The cabinets
regularly had many
drawers and painted
glasses.
ART NOUVEAU
ART DECO
COMPARISION
INTRODUCTION
ART NOUVEAU ART DECO

•Art Nouveau is an •Art deco is an eclectic style

international philosophy and that began in Paris in the
style of art, architecture and 1920s and flourished
applied art—especially the internationally throughout
decorative arts—that were the 1930s and into the World
most popular during 1890- War II era.
1910.
•The style influenced all
•The name "Art Nouveau" is areas of design, including
French for "new art". architecture and interior
•Art Nouveau was most design, industrial design,
popular in Europe, but it is fashion and jewelry, as well
known in various guises with as the visual arts such as
frequent localized painting, graphic arts and
tendencies. film.
ORIGIN
•The origins of Art Nouveau are •After the Universal Exposition of
found in the resistance of the 1900, various French artists
artist William Morris to the formed an informal collective
cluttered compositions and the known as La Société des artistes
revival tendencies of the 19th décorateurs that greatly
century that helped initiate the influenced the principles of Art
Arts and crafts movement. Deco as a whole.

•The flat perspective and strong •This society's purpose was to

colors of Japanese wood block demonstrate internationally the
prints, had a strong effect on the
evolution of the French
formulation of Art Nouveau. decorative arts. They organized
the 1925 International
•The Japonisme that was popular Exposition in Paris.
in Europe during the 1880s and
1890s was particularly •The term art deco was not used
influential on many artists with much until popularized by art
its organic forms and references historian Bevis Hillier's 1968
to the natural world. book Art Deco of the 20s and
30s.
CHARACTER

Terracotta sunburst
design above the front
La tournée du Chat doors of the Eastern
Noir avec Rodolphe Columbia Building in
Salis (1896) by Los Angeles; Claud
Théophile Steinlen Beelman, 1930
CHARACTER
•Although Art Nouveau •Art deco represented
acquired distinctly localized elegance, glamour,
tendencies as its geographic functionality and modernity.
spread increased, some
general characteristics are •Art deco's linear symmetry
indicative of the form. was a distinct departure from
the flowing asymmetrical
•A description published in organic curves of its
Pan magazine of Hermann predecessor style art
Obrist's wall hanging nouveau; it embraced
Cyclamen (1894) described it influences from many
as "sudden violent curves different styles of the early
generated by the crack of a twentieth century, including
whip", which became well- neoclassical, constructivism,
known during the early cubism, modernism and
spread of Art Nouveau. futurism and drew inspiration
from ancient Egyptian and
Aztec forms.
CHARACTER
1897 by Alphonse
Mucha, a leading
artist of the Art
Nouveau
movement.

"The Musician", oil

on canvas by
Tamara de
Lempicka, 1929
The art deco spire
of the Chrysler
Building in New
York, built 1928–
1930
•The term "whiplash" is frequently
applied to the characteristic curves •The structure of Art Deco is based on
employed by Art Nouveau artists. Such mathematical geometric shapes.
decorative "whiplash" motifs, formed •Much of this could be attributed to the
by dynamic, undulating, and flowing popular interest in archaeology during
lines are found throughout the the 1920s (e.g., the tomb of
architecture, painting, sculpture, and Tutankhamen, Pompeii, Troy, etc.).
other forms of Art Nouveau design. •Art Deco also used Machine Age and
streamline technologies for inspiration.
CHARACTER
•Although Art Nouveau was •Many design movements
replaced by 20th-century have political or
modernist styles, it is philosophical beginnings or
considered now as an intentions, art deco was
important transition between purely decorative.
the of Neoclassicism and
modernism. •Art deco had a profound
influence on art forms like
•According to the philosophy Memphis and pop art.
of the style, art should be a
way of life. •Art-deco design influences
were expressed in the
•Artists desired to combine crystalline and faceted
the fine arts and applied forms, trapezoidal,
arts, even for utilitarian zigzagged, geometric, and
objects. jumbled shapes, which can
be seen in many early works.
ARCHITECTURE

•Streamline modern deign

•The Art Nouveau style •Angular, geometric patterns
particularly shows the inlaid into facades
synthesis of ornament and •Ziggurats (staggered or
structure. stepped pyramid shape)
•Use of bold colours
•It was characterized by a •Inlaid stained glass
liberal combination of •Gold accents
materials – glass, iron, •Liberal use of sleek looking
ceramic and brickwork – and materials
elements such as dynamic, •Symmetrical repeating
undulating, and flowing lines patterns
and geometrical ornaments.
FAMOUS WORKS
•This approach was surely
directed opposed to the •In classic Art Deco,
traditional architectural rectangular blocky forms were
values of clarity and reason often arranged in geometric
of structure. fashion, then broken up by
curved ornamental elements.
•The buildings in the Art But always the aim was a
Nouveau style have many of monolithic appearance with
the following features: applied decorative motifs.
asymmetrical shapes,
curved glass, extensive use •Post-war society very quickly
of arches and curved forms, fell in love with the style, as it
mosaics, curving, plant like was a representation of all
embellishemnts, stained that was modern, luxurious
glass and Japanese motifs. and beautiful.
•plan.
FAMOUS WORKS

Art Nouveau in Riga

City Hall in Buffalo,

New York; John Wade
with George Dietel,
built 1929–1931
Casa Batllo
Architect Antoni Gaudi
Location Barcelona, Spain
Date 1905 to 1907
timeline
Building type Apartment building
(remodel)
Construction system Concrete
Climate Mediterranean
Context Urban
Style Expressionist or Art
Nouveau
 HISTORY
The house was originally built between 1875 and 1877
and in 1900 it was bought by the Spanish industrialist
who commissioned the architect Antoni Gaudí to tear it
down and build a new home in its place.

The project was strongly discussed by municipal

authorities due to a lot of elements of the design of Gaudí
over the bylaws standards.

The changes made by Gaudí on the old building were

radical and affect all the building.

Gaudí managed to convince Battló to remodel the

existing building instead of tearing it down, and between
1904 and 1906 he completely redesigned and remodeled
the exterior and interior
 Floor plan

Terrace plan
elevation
Section
 Gaudíadded a gallery, the balconies and the
polychrome ceramics.

 Inside,
the spaces were totally reorganized in order
to obtain in it more natural light and ventilation.

 Gaudí also added two floors to the building.

 Outside,
Gaudí carried out one of the most
impressive and brilliant urban façades of the world.

 He used for it the typical modern constructive

elements such as the ceramics, the stone and the
iron forged.
 Gaudí, disliked straight lines and preferred
organic, nonlinear patterns instead.
 The flow of the exterior of the building cannot
properly be explained with the use of straight lines,
but rather waves on the ocean.
 the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines
completely.
 A facade includes a number of small,
elegantly curved balconies that seem to
stick to the front of the house like birds'
nests on the face of the cliff.
 There are no edges or corners; even the
walls are rounded giving the essence of
smooth skin of a sea serpent about them.
 The balconies remember pieces of skulls
with its eyes and mouth.
 The columns of first floor look like human
bones
 The local name for the building is Casa dels
ossos (house of bones), and indeed it does
have a visceral, skeletal organic quality.
 Much of the facade of the Casa Batlló
is made of local sandstone covered
with colorful mosaic made of broken
ceramic tiles that starts in shades of
golden orange moving into greenish
blues.
 One of the first recyclers, Gaudi used
the rejected and imperfect tiles from
his other projects to complete the
façade as well as the mosaic on the
back of the building and on the
 The facade itself glitters in
chimneys atop the building.
numerous colours, and small
round plates that look like fish
scales are let into it.
 The facade is impressive so
much if is contemplated
during the day as during the
night, under a special
lighting.
 The roof decorated with
polychrome ceramics of
brilliant colors is crowned
by a tower.
 The roof reminds of a
completely different
animal: The roof
is arched and is bordered
by a rough line similar to
the backbone of a
gigantic dinosaur or
A common theory about the
building is that the rounded feature
to the left of centre, terminating at
the top in a turret and cross,
represents the sword of Saint
George, which has been plunged
into the back of the dragon.
The large window on the second floor,
which provided the main source of
daylight for the Batlló family apartment,
and the oval-shaped windows on either
side and above it also earned it the
nickname “House of Yawns
 Once inside the building,
however, one realizes
that these nicknames do
not aptly describe the
interior at all.
 Upon entering into the
building, the visitor is
greeted with a wide and
curving stairway which
leads to the second floor
of the building and the
main rooms of the
apartment.
 The curving, wooden
handrail is expertly
crafted in such a way
that it perfectly fits the
contours of the human
hand while walking up
the steps.
 The anteroom boasts a
fireplace nook with built-in
benches for a couple to sit on
one side and a chaperone to sit
watchfully on the other.
 The visitor slowly begins to
realize that there seem to be no
right angles present anywhere;
instead, everything, even the
walls and ceilings, gently curve
as if mimicking the surface of a
calm body of water. Walls turn
into ceilings and floors without
interruption.
Casa Batlló has a
deeply aquatic
and natural
theme which
runs throughout
the entire
building, from
snail-shell
inspired lines on
the ceilings to
the aquatic blue
tiled walls of the
inner stairwell.
Passing from room to
room, one crosses
through exquisitely-
made doors made of
wood and hand-blown
glass, with bubbles of
air still trapped in
them from the day of
their creation.
Looking into these
colored glass discs,
one even gets the
feeling of breathing
underwater.
Gaudi used his
genius to maximize
the amount of
sunlight that the
main apartment
received, solving
the problems of
light and heat
distribution
because of window
which was on the
second floor of the
six story building.
In the center of the building, Gaudí expanded
the existing patio and installed a large
skylight. He placed the elevator shaft and
stairwell inside here, while incorporating a
way to distribute light evenly through the
building
The patio walls of the upper floors are
covered by cobalt-blue tiles; proceeding
downwards, the color of the tiles fades to
white. The darker tiles, which are closer to
the skylight, reflect less light; the white tiles
reflect more. When viewed from below, the
patio walls look to be a continuous blue color.
Gaudí placed smaller windows on the upper
floors of the patio and larger ones on the
lower levels in order to ensure an even
 No tour of Casa Batlló
would be complete
without a trip to the
recently-opened top of the
building to take in the
sights of the attic and the
chimneys.
 The colorful mosaic work
on the building’s
chimneys is breathtaking
in its attention to detail
and it provides a measure
of grace and beauty to an
otherwise utilitarian part
of the building’s
infrastructure.