Art History

Art History

Art Nouveau

05/11/15

Art Nouveau: 1890 - 1914 A style of decorative art, architecture, and design prominent in Western Europe and the USA from around about 1890 until the beginning of the first world war, and was characterised by intricate linear designs and flowing curves based on natural forms.

Art Nouveau was considered the first self-conscious attempt to create a modern style. It developed first in England and then developed across the European continents and USA. It's name came from a Paris gallery, which showcased a lot of the work. It's influence can be found in things such paintings, sculpture, jewelry, metalwork, glass and ceramics. Its erotic nature of many Art Nouveau works is the most prevalent features of the style.

It is influenced by experiments with expressive line by the painters Paul Guaguin and Henri fe Toulouse-Lautrec, and was partly inspired by a vogue for the linear patterns of Japanese prints (Ukiyo-e)

Ukiyo-e: A genre of art that flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th century. It's artists created woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; Kabuki actors and Sumo wrestlers; Scenes from History and Folk tales; Travel scenes and Landscapes; Flora and Fauna; and erotic.

Names in different European countries:

Germany: Jugendstil

Austria: Sezessionstil

Italy: Stile Floreale (Stil Liberty)

Spain: Modernismo (Modernista)

An artist called Aubrey Bearsley was at the forefront of the Art Nouveau movement in England, and the Aestheticism of his illustrations. 

Aestheticism: An approach to art exemplified by the Aesthetic movement

Aesthetic Movement: A late Nineteenth century movement that championed pure beauty and 'Art for Art's sake', emphasizing the visual and sensual qualities of art and design over practical, moral or narrative considerations.

Aubrey Beardsley (1872 - 1898:

Beardsley was an Illustrator and Author, and drew predominantly in black ink. He was born in Sussex, England, and died in Menton, France of Tuberculosis. He was the leading illustrator in England in the 1890's, and after Oscar Wilde, the outstanding figure in the Aesthetic Movement. 

He practiced drawing when he lived as a clerk and, after a meeting with Edward Bourne-Jones in 1891, was prompted into attend evening classes at the Westminster School of Art for a few months. A few years later, in 1893, Beardsley was commissioned to illustrate a new edition of Sir Thomas Malory's 'Le Morte D'Arthur', and was soon after appointed the art editor of a quarterly magazine, 'The Yellow Book', not to be confused with another yellow book, which was a cheap magazine. 

Beardlsey depended heavily on the expressive quality of organic line and the Arts and Crafts Movement of WIlliam Morris, who had established the importance of a vital style in the applied arts.

The Yellow Book: Published in London in 1894 to 1897 by Elkin Matthews and John Lane, later Lane alone, was edited by the American Henry Harland, was a quarterly literary periodical (priced at 5s) that lent it's name to the 'Yellow Nineties'. It was a fashionable magazine that took it's name from the covers that controversial French novels had.

Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde:

Oscar Wilde was a play writer, and Beardsley's illustrations for Oscar Wilde's 'Salome' won him widespread notoriety, however he was eventually dismissed from 'The Yellow Book' due to his association with Wilde, who was arrested for the then criminal offence of being homosexual, who happened to be carrying a yellow book at the time, most likely the cheap magazine. 

Wilde was imprisoned in 1897 in Reading Gaolin, London, and when released, moved to Paris, where he was hated. He had two children and a wife, who had all left him when realizing his choice in lifestyle. He died in 1900 of Meningitis, a serious disease in which there is inflammation of the meninges, caused by viral or bacterial infection, and marked by intense headache and fever, sensitivity to light, and muscular rigidity.

Jacob Epstein (1880 - 1959)

Epstein was an English sculptor and painter. He was born in New York, America of Polish Jew parentage, He moved to London in 1905, and became a British citizen in 1907. Epstein was the creator of Wilde's tombstone. Epstein helped pioneer modern sculpture.

The tombstone was a highly controversial piece. At the time, it was an angle with it's genitals on show, however, the groundsman hacked them off. 

Epstein's work was highly unpopular, and two of his most famous pieced were showcased in a freakshow in Blackpool: Genesis and Jacob and the Angel.

Genesis
1929 - 1930

Jacob and the Angel
1940 - 1941

Alphonse Mucha (Alfons Maria Mucha) 1860 - 1939:

Alphonse Mucha was an unknown artist until his poster of the well known actress of the time, Sarah Bernhardt. Story goes that he worked in a print shop and everyone had gone home for Christmas. Bernhardt wanted a poster crreating to publicize her latest work and so asked Mucha to do it. After creating the poster, Bernhardt requested an audience with him, and he had thought himself to be in trouble, as his poster was not in the style of most. She loved it, and gave him a 6 year contract, which subsequently boosted his name and made him an overnight success. 

Mucha became the front running artist of the movement in Paris, which was known as 'Le Style Mucha' for a while. 

He got married in 1906 in Prague to Maruska Chytilova.

The 1900 Universal Exhibit boosted Art Nouveau internationally, along with the creation of the Metro in Paris.