Unit3: Contextual & Cultural Referencing in Art & Design: ART NOUVEAU (1890-1910) Part 1

The Art Nouveau is an international style of art and philosophy which is a direct descendant from the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Art Nouveau is the French name for “New Art”, however the name used can be very different depending on which country it’s being used. For example, Jugendstil in the German speaking world. Both names where derived from Siegfried Bing’s gallery: Masion de L’Art Nouveau in Paris and the magazine Jugend in Munic. Its style drew inspiration from the organic world and geometric forms; its intent was to find harmony with the natural environment. The organic forms sometimes took on abrupt curvature which was referred to with the term Whiplash.

Some other names used for Art Nouveau were:

MODERN – in Russia

SECESSION – in Hungary and Austria

STILE LIBERTY – in Italy.

MODERNISME – in Spain.

Round about the same time in which Art Nouveau was making its first appearance, Japan was opening up after many years closed off to the rest of the world. Lots of commerce and artifacts started making their way into Europe and ended up in the hands of the artist of the time times. Most notably the Japanese Ukiyo- e wood block prints. These ended up having a very strong effect on the formulation of the new tendencies. But it was just the Ukiyo-e wood block prints that left a strong impact on the style. We can see influences from the Arts and Crafts movement (which occurred just before), Pre- Raphaelite paintings, the Rococo Style and even a book of Celtic Illustrations by William Blake. Inspiration was also taken from the famous painter, post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and the symbolic colour and decorative patterns explored by the Nabis group of young artists.

la biche au bois Jules Chéret, poster for La biche au bois (The Doe in the Wood), 1866

Chéret's early green and black poster used the multipla images format

so popular in the 1860s. The lettering is a harbinger of the swirlin

forms marking his mature style

Back in Paris, in a transition time lifting censorship restrictions and more freedom for of the press, communication become much more widespread and this gave artists and designers a greater freedom of expression. The streets began being filled with posters and design art. And this gave birth to the legacy of Jules Chéret, acclaiming him as the ‘father of the modern poster’. Chéret moved even further away from old Victorian tendencies by enlarging the main figure and the lettering in the art.

Elysee Montmanrte Jules Gheret, “Élysee Montmartre Bal Masque” (Masked Ball) Poster, 1896.

Parisian elegance, a carefree grace and astounding technical mastery are present.

The figures create a lively play of angles linking the top and bottom lettering.

Another designer and illustrator to rival Chéret, was the Swiss born Eugène Grasset. He possessed a very strong background in medieval art with influence his works with a combination of exotic oriental art. Some of his work had a thick black contour locking forms into flat areas of colour in a manner similar to stained medieval glass work.

Eugéne Grasset, exhibition poster, c. 1894.
Quietly demure instead of exuberant, Grasset’s figures
project a resonance very different from that of the Chérette

Eugéne Grasset, chapter title page and text page from Histoire des Quatre Fils Aymon, 1883.
A structural unity of type, image, and ornament is achieved

Moving to other parts of the world, in this case in England, Art Nouveau was the main focus of primarily graphic designers and illustrators rather than for architectural use as in France and other continental cities. It also finds traces of Gothic and Victorian paintings to add to the above mentioned sources. Here we come across the ‘enfant terrible of Art Nouveau’, Aubrey Beardsley with his impeccable pen lines. His work was very exotic with a lot of influence from Japanese prints, even the characters were dressed in that costume. His work was mainly composed of black and white imagery. However unfortunately his working carrier was cut short at the age of twenty-six when he passed away due to tuberculosis, but this didn’t stop his work of flat patterns and dynamic curves from penetrating every European country and America.