ART

NOUVEA
U
MOMENT
 INTODUCTION
• Art Nouveau, ornamental style of art that flourished between about 1890
and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States.
• The most important places for architecture during this period were Brussels,
Paris and Barcelona. The name 'Art nouveau' is French for 'new art'.
• It represents the beginning of modernism in design(Modern Architecture). It
occurred at a time when
1. Mass-produced consumer goods began to fill the marketplace, and
2. Designers, architects, and artist began to understand that the handcrafted work
of centuries past could be lost.
• Flourished in major European cities and emerged in the early 1890s in all
the visual arts:
1. Painting 7. jewellery
2. Sculpture 8. clothing and
3. Architecture 9. furniture
4. Interior design
5. graphic arts
6. Posters
• ART NOUVEAU MOMENT OF PAINTINGS

The Dancer’s Reward (Salome),”

1894.

Aubrey Beardsley
Lifetime: 1872–1898
Nationality: British
Medium: Illustration art
Famous work: The
Dancer’s Reward
(Salome)

• In his poster, the character Salome holds the head

of John the Baptist on a table. This grotesque
representation was characteristic of his black ink
drawings of the time and solidified his dubious
reputation in Art Nouveau.
 “The Kiss,” 1908. Oil painting.

Gustav Klimt
Lifetime: 1862–1918
Nationality: Austrian
Medium: Painting
Notable work: The Kiss

• Klimt’s primary subject in his Art Nouveau

paintings was the female figure. His popular
work, The Kiss, is one of the most instantly
recognizable examples of his work, and one the
few paintings of his that features a man. This
piece is a notable work from his “Golden
Phase,” which is considered a leading example
of the Art Nouveau movement.
 “Gismonda,” 1894.

Alphonse Mucha
Lifetime: 1860–1939
Nationality: Czech
Medium: Painting
Famous
work: Gismonda

• His lithograph, Gismonda, had a large impact on Art

Nouveau. This piece was created for the eponymous
Renaissance play by Victorian Sardou. The woman in
the poster, Sarah Bernhardt, wears a costume from the
fourth and final act of the play. She was the single most
influential figure in Mucha’s work.
 Cover design for
Arthur Heygate
Wren’s
Mackmurdo City Churches
Lifetime:1851–1942
Nationality: British
Famous work:Cover
design for Wren's City
Churches

• The woodcut as a genre points to the handcrafted,

unique quality of the work and the simplicity of
Mackmurdo's use of positive and negative space
both contribute to this association. the trademark
whiplash curves are characteristic of the visual
sense of free movement and energy that would
eventually define Art Nouveau.
• ART NOUVEAU MOMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
• Art Nouveau buildings have these features:
1. Asymmetrical shapes
2. Extensive use of arches and curved forms
3. Curved glass
4. Curving plant-like embellishments
5. Mosaics
6. Stained glass

• Materials used
1. Stained glass
2. Wrought iron
3. Mosaic tiles
4. Lime mortar
5. Wall papers
6. Glazed stucco
 Antoni Gaudí i Cornet
Lifetime: 1852–1926
Nationality: Catalan
Medium: Architecture
Notable work: La Sagrada Familia

• Antoni Gaudí was an innovative architect who worked predominantly in

Barcelona where his Art Nouveau style filled the city. His work was inspired
by nature and the Catholic faith, with curved lines and vibrant surfaces that
differed from typical architectural styles. Benches in Parc Güell are designed
to align with the human spine and the balconies of Casa Mila represent
abstractions of leaves and blades of grass. It was this inspiration that
separated Gaudí from other styles of the time and distinguished him as a
member of Art Nouveau
 • La Sagrada Familia, or Holy
Family Church, is Antoni Gaudi's
most ambitious work, and
construction is still ongoing.
• A notable example of this is
Gaudi's innovative "leaning
columns" (that is, columns that are
not at right angles to the floor and
ceiling).

• When Sagrada Familia is complete, the church will have a total of 18 towers,
each dedicated to a different religious figure, and each one hollow, allowing the
placement of various types of bells which will sound with the choir.
• The architectural style of Sagrada Familia has been called "warped Gothic“.
Gaudi believed that color is life, and, knowing that he would not live to see the
completion of his masterpiece, the master architect left colored drawings of his
vision for future architects to follow
• Casa Milà Barcelona, or la Pedrera, by Antoni Gaudi was built as a city apartment
building.
• Wavy walls made of rough-chipped stone suggest fossilized ocean waves.
• Doors and windows look like they are dug out of sand. Wrought iron balconies
contrast with the limestone.
• A comical array of chimney stacks dances across the roof.
• This unique building is widely but unofficially known as La Pedrera (the Quarry).
In 1984, UNESCO classified Casa Milà as a World Heritage site. Today, visitors
can take tours of La Pedrera as it is used for cultural expositions.
 Victor Horta
Lifetime: 1861–1947
Nationality: Belgian
Medium: Architecture
Famous work: Hôtel Tassel

• Victor Horta was one of the founders of Art Nouveau and known for
expanding the movement from visual and decorative arts into architecture.
Horta’s work was marked by his understanding of industrial advances with
both iron and glass. His buildings featured twisted and bent iron that extended
seamlessly from the exterior to the decor
 • The Hôtel Tassel, or “Tassel House,” was
considered the first Art Nouveau building and
one of Horta’s most notable works. This
townhouse was built for one his colleagues at the
University Libre de Bruxelles. It combined
themes of nature and industry seamlessly, and its
iconic stair hall can be viewed from the exterior
of the building.
• Here, the emphasis is on
structure, which Horta
makes frankly clear in
the dull green iron
columns that anchor the
• The thin posts blossom intospace.
a tangle of tendrils and
vine-like twists at their crown, which then blend
with the vines evident in the mosaic floor and the
stenciled whiplash curves of the plants on the wall
surfaces, ceiling with flower-petal-shaped shades.
• Grand Palais, exhibition hall and museum A masterpiece of Classicism and Art
Nouveau, this Beaux Arts structure (built 1897–1900), with its large stone
colonnades and enormous conservatory-style glass roof, is a major tourist
attraction and a Parisian landmark.
• Henri Deglane, Albert Louvet, and Albert Thomas were each assigned a different
portion of the building to design, while the whole project was overseen by Charles
Girault. 
• The building is composed of three major areas: the Galeries Nationales, the Palais
de la Découverte, and the Nave. The area known as the Nave is an iron-and-steel
structure with stone walls, and it is crowned by elegant glass vaults. The Nave’s
glass roof constitutes the largest such structure in Europe, reaching a height of 45
metres under its dome and spanning some 200 metres in length. At the heart of the
• ART NOUVEAU FOR GLASSWORKS

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Lifetime: 1848–1933
Nationality: American
Medium: Painting, decorative art, glass
making
Famous work: Education (Chittenden
• His most Memorial Window)
notable work, Education, was a thirty foot wide stained glass window
installed in Yale University’s library. It was built in memory of Mary Harwell
Lusk, the daughter of one of Yale’s benefactors. The piece was removed in
1970 from the premise as a safety precaution for protests that occurred on New
Haven Green. As a result, it was later misidentified and then forgotten. 

 “Education,” 1890. Stained-glass

  “Celebration of Spring”

Émile Gallé
Lifetime: 1846–1904
Nationality: French
Medium: Glass maker
Famous work: Vases and
lamps, “Celebration of
Spring”

• Émile Gallé was a glass maker who founded the

École de Nancy, a group dedicated to expanding
the reach of Art Nouveau, along with Louis
Majorelle. His work was inspired by nature and
literature. He would collect and study plants and
bugs in his free time for inspiration, pioneering
experimental techniques in glass making that he
later patented. Many of his work had floral
motifs and poems sealed within, written for the
• ART NOUVEAU FOR FURNITURE

Louis Majorelle
Lifetime: 1859–1926
Nationality: French
Medium: Furniture maker
Famous work: Armchairs, tables, cabinetry
• Louis Majorelle co-founded the École
de Nancy with Émile Gallé who was a
mentor and guide of his work. Before
meeting Gallé, Majorelle’s work
copied old style furniture, often
reviving old pieces. After meeting
Gallé, he began to incorporate new
shapes and included underlying natural
themes into his furniture, which led
him to be internationally acclaimed.
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