Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau, from the French for “new art”, is an international art movement that was popular from 1890 to 1905. The London department store Liberty and Co. popularized this response to the academic art of the 19th century. The style is characterized by organic (primarily floral/plant based) motifs and stylized curvilinear forms. Art Noveau made art a part of daily life by applications in everything from architecture to furniture.

On January 1st, 1890, Czech artist Alhponse Mucha had created a lithographic poster advertising a theatrical production in Paris. The next day, Parisians were talking not about the play, but rather the poster and its creator, after whom the style became named Style Mucha, or Mucha Style. The style later became known as Art Nouveau, a style that Mucha and others would each interpret differently. Though the appeal was global, the strongest influence Art Nouveau had was in Europe. Art Nouveau acted as a bridge between Neoclassicism and Modernism, at which point the popular influence of Art Nouveau died out and became replaced by the aforementioned Modernism. Today, UNESCO recognizes buildings constructed in the Art Nouveau style as both World Heritage Sites and significant contributions to cultural heritage.

Art Nouveau is considered to be a “total style”, encompassing many different media, including visual and decorative arts. The general philosophy is that art should be an integral part of an individual’s daily life, with any object having the potential to be designed to be art, no matter how mundane or practical. New production methods and ways of looking at the world gave Art Nouveau its name. By the first World War, Art Nouveau was dropped in favor of Art Deco, which employed cheaper production methods and rectilinear designs.