Art Nouveau – The Style and Innovation of a New Era
The style known as Art Nouveau swept across Europe and Northern America from 1890. It marked the dawning of a new era which brought with it new ideas and approaches to the visual arts: Including architecture and furniture. It was a response to Industrialization and the sweeping changes it had upon urban life and urban growth.
The first artistic developments which gave way to this new style began around 1880. The term was published for the first time in 1884 in a Brussels art paper - Used in reference to a Belgian group of artists known as Les XXX. However, it would be Alphonse Mucha’s lithographic theatre poster, released into the heart of the Parisian avant-garde on January 1st 1895 that would bring Art Nouveau to Paris.
In Paris in January 1895 this artistic style was not known as Art Nouveau: It was known as Style Mucha; French for The Mucha Style. Nevertheless, the Belgian capital of Brussels is the original Capital of Art Nouveau architecture. Fifty percent of the people in Belgium speak French. Art Nouveau (New Art) was a phrase used in relation to new ideas and the creation of new traditions within architecture.
There is literally hundreds of Art Nouveau buildings located in Brussels. The first Art Nouveau architecture created by Victor Horta in 1892: Horta is described by the twentieth century English historian John Norwich as, the key European Art Nouveau architect. The French architect Hector Guimard is considered to be among the most significant representatives of Art Nouveau in France during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century: And so influential with regards to the development of the Art Nouveau style in France.
James Sidney Edourd Baron Ensor was one of the most controversial yet prominent members of Les XXX: A significant artist with regards to the development of Expressionism and Surrealism. From a poor background, Ensor dropped out of school at fifteen to pursue the arts – In 1877 he studied for three years at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Ensor rarely left Belgium and his work did not entirely appeal to the masses. Even so, by the turn of the twentieth century Ensor had established a notable reputation and exhibited his work often.
Art Nouveau was an international movement that became a gleaming presence within the decorative and applied arts as well as architecture – Seen in the cafes, homes and public buildings of urban centers throughout Europe and North America. Quite literally, Art Nouveau adorned the world of the people and became a part of everyday life: And this was indeed the concept behind Art Nouveau – That art should be a decorative part of everything, from the furniture to the stairway.
The Industrial Revolution brought new technologies and new materials to the fore. Some artists welcomed this, energized by the aesthetic possibilities this offered up. While many Art Nouveau artists utilized the machine and new materials, the Arts and Crafts Movement sought to elevate the decorative arts away from Industrialization - The latter seeking to apply traditional techniques of the highest standards to everyday objects such as textiles and furniture. These were extraordinary times: The old and the new worked alongside to create a new balance - Art Nouveau was a new approach to the arts which sought to represent this dawning of a modern age.
At the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle Art Nouveau became recognized as the first new decorative style of the twentieth century. It was the latest designer decorative style that clearly dominated the show – And now after more than fifty million visitors had visited the show, it was world renowned.
As an artistic movement, Art Nouveau has been associated with the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelites and Symbolism: As were some of the more well known Art Nouveau artists such as Alphonse Mucha, Aubrey Beardsley and the later work of Edward Burne-Jones.
Art Nouveau was a brilliant albeit a somewhat brief movement: The onslaught of World War I bringing its advancement to a standstill. The high style of Art Nouveau was expensive to produce. Forms became more streamlined and less decorative. The age of modernism arrived and it was less expensive and more practical – It became known as Art Deco.
