At the turn of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, there sprang up a colourful new art movement across Europe. This movement was called Art Nouveau (pronounced Ah -Noovo) which literally means “New Art” in French.
Copying nature
Art Nouveau had other names too — it was known as “Jugendstil” or “youth movement” in Germany and “Stile Liberty” in Italy. The new art affected more than just painting. Buildings, sculpture, furniture, jewellery, fabrics, silverware and all sorts of material used in interior and exterior design were created in the Art Nouveau style.
The most outstanding feature of an Art Nouveau object is use of curving lines (called “curvilinear” in the language of art) that copy nature. There are no sharp angles or straight lines. The designs are often asymmetrical which means they don’t look the same from all angles.
Aubrey Beardsley is an English artist who drew pictures to illustrate the author Oscar Wilde’s works in the Art Nouveau style. Austrian artist Gustav Klimt used tiny bits of gold leaf in his paintings.
In Paris, the French architect and interior designer, Hector Guimard created several entrances to the Paris Metro in the Art Nouveau style using wrought iron, bronze and glass. If you look at a picture of one of the entrance gates to the Paris Metro, you can see that it looks like tall stems growing out of the ground with flower buds at the end. Architects got interested in Art Nouveau thanks to the development of building materials like iron, steel and concrete. Using these strong materials, architects could create delicate designs that were able to support the building instead of just walls.
In Barcelona, Spain, architect Antoni Gaudi designed several buildings in the Art Nouveau style. The buildings have an absence of straight lines. The Casa Mila is an apartment block designed by Gaudi. It has irregular floors with pillars and ceilings of different heights. On the outside the balconies look like a series of waves. The roof has strange, colourful chimneys. In the U.S., interior designer Louis Comfort Tiffany created the beautiful lamps named for him. Tiffany was also famous for creating stained glass windows, drawings, paintings, mosaics and ceramics. You can see Louis Tiffany’s work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Louis Tiffany’s father, Charles Tiffany founded the Tiffany and Company jewellery house. Louis became the first design director for the firm. Another artist who created stained glass work in this style is Irish artist Harry Clarke.
Art Nouveau ended in popularity as Cubism and Surrealism took over the art world.
