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Popular during the late 19th century until WW1, it has influenced the art world since then. Its practitioners were keen to revive good workmanship, raise the standard of craft and produce genuinely modern design that reflected the utility of the items they were creating.

Art Nouveau literally means 'New Art'.  When it was showcased in Paris and then London, there was outrage; people either loved it or loathed it!

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Within the style itself there are 2 distinct looks: curvy, organic lines and the more austere, linear look of artists such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

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Main characteristics of Art Nouveau -

• Asymmetrical shapes.

• Extensive use of arches and curved forms.

• Curved glass.

• Curving, plant-like embellishments.

• Mosaics.

• Stained glass.

• Japanese motifs.

• Colours are typically soft and muted, with shades of green, blue, and pink being popular.

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Eugène Samuel Grasset (1845 - 1917) was a Swiss graphic artist and art teacher. He is considered a pioneer in Art Nouveau design.

​La Plante et Ses Applications Ornementales (The Plant and Its Ornamental Applications) is an 1896 book by Grasset. The elaborately illustrated book was influential in defining the movement's style.

 

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                                                                          Eugene Grasset, Novembre, La Belle Jardiniere,  1896                                                                           

Images source - https://www.pinterest.de/pin/609041549607959937/ [accessed 3 February 2023]

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Alphonse Mucha (1860 - 1939), a Czech artist, was one of the most prominent practitioners of the Art Nouveau.  His posters were mostly pertained to theatrical performances. Mucha's work featured the female form and he was passionate about portraying women in a new manner that celebrated a more socially powerful female figure.

While living in Paris in the late 1800’s he adopted a style that was to become what we now think of as Art Nouveau, originally referred to as “Le style Mucha”.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Alphonse Mucha, 'Reverie',  1897                                                                        

Images source - https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-alphonse-muchas-iconic-posters-define-art-nouveau

[accessed 3 February 2023]

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Theophile Steinken (1859 - 1923) was a Swiss artist. He is one of the most well-known Art Nouveau style artists and printmakers to come from the Montmartre art scene.

The owner of the cabaret, Le Chat Noir, commissioned the famous art poster, “La tournée du Chat Noir”, amongst additional other works.

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                                                                                                                                   Theophile Steinlen, Le tournee du Chat Noir, 1896                                                                

Images source - https:// www.pinterest.de/pin/609041549607959937/

[accessed 3 February 2023]

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Aubrey Beardsley (1872 - 1890), a controversial English illustrator, who was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement. As such, Dada painter George Grosz noted in 1946 that Beardsley influenced "practically every modern designer after 1900." The artist's designs were particularly important to the development of Art Nouveau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                              Aubrey Beardse, Isolde, 1865                                                         

Images source - https:// www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey-Beardsley#/media/file:Aubrey_Beardsley_-_Isolde.jpg

[accessed 3 February 2023)

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1872 - 1890), a French artist and graphic designer, who established a studio in Montmartre, Paris in 1884 . He captured the movement of dancers, performers, and other entertainers in the area, by creating simple outlines and juxtaposing intense colours; the result was an art brimming with life and energy. 

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                                                         Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, 1891                                                        

Images source - https:// www.metmuseum.org [accessed 3 February 2023)

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Short as it's reign may have been, Art Nouveau's spell has continued to this day, with historians and scholars crediting the movement with being the precursor to what we now know as Modernism.

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Milton Glaser (1929 - 2020)

In 1966, Glaser designed a poster for Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits. The poster depicts the profile of Dylan's face with psychedelic, swirly hair in the Art Nouveau style.

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