Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau vase and candélabre. Interior design by Darren Henault
If you are going to walk the walk, you should talk the talk.
What is Art Nouveau?
ART NOUVEAU: an international style of art, architecture and applied arts, most notably decorative arts, that began in Europe in the 1890’s and early twentieth century. The style is open, curvilinear and asymmetrical. Many motifs have a Japanese influence and are based on nature. It is noted for its whiplash curve–a line that is long and slightly curved ending abruptly in a whip-like sharp curve.
The name comes from Siegfried Bing’s gallery in Paris called Maison de l’Art Nouveau. Some key names include (but are not limited to): Hector Guimard, Victor Horta, Henri Van de Velde, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Charles Rohlfs.
Line drawing showing whiplash curves
The Great Wave Off Kanagawa
1823-1829 | Color woodcut | 254 x 381 mm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Hokusai (Hokusai, Katsushika) | 1760-1849- often cited as evidence of a Japanese influence on Art Nouveau
Clockwise, exterior of Bing’s gallery, exterior of Bing’s pavillion at the Paris Exposition in 1900, Interior at the Exposition.
Paris
Tiffany lamp
settee
One could write volumes about Art Nouveau. I have. My posts show more of the gorgeous Greenwich Village interior by designer Darren Henault , a beautiful Broadway theatre, designers Charles Rohlfs, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Victor Horta.
Photo credits: Darren Henault interior, New York Spaces. Whiplash curve Bing, here and here Wave Jane furniture architecture in Paris Tiffany lamp settee collage, fabric, graphic design, mirror vase Paris metro sign by Hector Guimard dragonflly pin Last photo, my own.
