Airy Fairy and Curly Wurly

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was a luxurious new style which was taking Europe by storm, the glamorous, decadent but also anxious end of the 19^th century in Paris, it was inspired by the earlier British Arts and Crafts movement, which was sometimes known as the “new art”. It grew out of the dark restless energies of the industrial city. It was an obsession of nature, sensuality and sex. Its designs had organic forms, flowing - curvilinear lines, bob-sleigh curves, loop-the-loop spirals, whiplash and rich ornamentation it was also inspired from animals, insects and birds especially swans, dragonflies, peacocks and nature. The uses of new materials and the rejection of earlier styles.

The name came from Paris , where a shop owner Samuel Bing gave his Japanese art shop a makeover in 1895. He called it ‘La Maison de l’Art Nouveau’ it lasted a few years but then it was over in 1914. Italians called it ‘stile liberty’ and the Germans called it ‘Jugendstil’ (youth style).

It all started when Paris became more popular and they had to find out a way how to figure the huge population that they had with transport so they came up with the Metropolitan idea. It was designed by the French designer Hector Guimard, the French were amazed and shocked by its design, the shapes, the curviness and smoothness of arches and the way it reminded them of bat wings and in some way it reminds me of an outer space design.

Hector Guimard was inspired by Victor Horta another Art Nouveau designer and between the 1894 and 1897 he designed the Castel Beranger apartment building in Paris.

 

Guimard was the main exponent of the French Art Nouveau and his Castel Beranger can be viewed as a manifesto of the style, which in France was often referred to as “Style Guimard”.

The French glass designer Emile Galle was also influenced from art nouveau. Cameo glass is one of Galle’s most beautiful creations, and after his death, the artisans from his studios continued to produce this form of Nouveau art glass.  Cameo glass is made by layering multicolored glass, then engraving or etching through the layers to form a raised decoration or “cameo” effect. This technique was popular on vases, covered boxes and various other decorative forms. He had a variety of glassware decorated with leaves, vines, and flowers. He fused layers of different coloured glass and then cut designs into the glass to reveal the color he wanted, a technique that also added greater depth to the design.

Alphonse Mucha was another Art Nouveau designer, illustrator, and graphic artist. He designed stamps and posters but after designing/printing his famous poster of Sarah Bernhardt as Gismonda, the actress contracted him for six years to produce posters of her productions. Mucha was also designing jewellery for Bernhardt, which was manufactured by the goldsmith George Fouquet. He designed door handles, furniture, stained glass and lighting for a shop.

In this design you can see that the jewellery piece Mucha was inspired by a snake.

Through my research I've also found some dresses designed to this day inspired from Art Nouveau

Both images show softness, femininity, flow and lightness like we used to see in art nouveau design. I also found this chair which designed from Daniel Widrig, it reminded me of the metropolitan design its smooth curvy and futuristic design too.

mr oscar wilde. 2012. art nouveau. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mr-oscar-wilde.de/lifetime/art_nouveau.htm. [Accessed 26 January 14].

bbc document the allure of art nouveau. 2013. youtube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PHHhmLA8Sg. [Accessed 26 January 14].

dark roasted blend. 2011. the treasure of art nouveau. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2011/10/treasures-of-art-nouveau-part-1.html. [Accessed 26 January 14].

daniel widrig. 2009. brazil. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.danielwidrig.com/index.php?page=Work&id=Brazil_No2. [Accessed 26 January 14].

Art Nouveau Inspired Dresses. 2011. the art nouveau blog. [ONLINE] Available at: http://theartnouveaublog.blogspot.se/2011/07/art-nouveau-inspired-dresses.html. [Accessed 26 January 14].