Graphic Style Of Art Nouveau example essay topic

During the late 1800's, a new art spread throughout Europe and major American cities. This movement, known as Art Nouveau, was an art movement and style of decoration and architecture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Artists and designers who created Art Nouveau aimed to transform their world by challenging convention, abandoning academic styles, and embracing a modern aesthetic based on sources such as plant forms, Celtic patterns, and Japanese art. Primarily a movement of the applied arts - interior and furniture design, architecture, book production and illustration - Art Nouveau, characterized with its graceful, asymmetrical lines based on organic forms, and exotic, rich imagery, is among the most immediately recognizable and widely appreciated of all artistic styles. In a broader sense it includes the geometrical and more abstract patterns and rhythms that were evolved as part of the general reaction to 19th-century historicism (Johnson 12) The exponents of this style insisted that all types of art should be equal, accessible and to be enjoyed by everyone: "Art for art's sake". There are wide variations used in this style according to where it appeared and the materials that were employed.

Art Nouveau designers demonstrated an appreciation of the natural world and were inspired by the depiction of lines of flowers, animals, insects, birds and plants. They used the pliancy of wood, molten glass, clay and metal, and applied them to the flowing curves we see in buildings, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, glass and sculpture. In addition, commercial poster printing offered a new medium for advertisers and artists alike who wasted no time experimenting with this new art form (Johnson 21). The graceful lines seen in Art Nouveau were an expression of a new graphic style. Poster design was the beginning of modern promotional advertising.

Art Nouveau letter styles such as Munich and Jugendstil were based on plant like forms. Hand lettering styles like Wal hal and Phaeton created unique faces that were used in poster advertising. "Linotype and Monotype improved print technology" (Johnson 84). The improvements made to printing increased the quality of the posters in the nineteenth century allowing lettering to become more legible. Poster design in the eighteen nineties combined typography and illustration to create a striking graphic layout.

"Art Nouveau had qualities for intended visual experiences that were to be important to the twentieth century" (Johnson 98). Dramatic paintings or rich illustrations dominated the center area. Informational text outlining a product or event was usually placed towards the bottom. The graphic style of Art Nouveau portrayed a balance between space and line. Unlike other cluttered designs, Art Nouveau used open space and pattern to create forms (Johnson 76). Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a key figure in the development of poster illustration.

Toulouse-Lautrec used color lithography to print his posters. He would restrict himself to minimal lines and shadows to create the appearance of form ii (Lucie-Smith 16). Toulouse-Lautrec along with fellow artists of his time drew illustrations reveling images of modern city life. Art Nouveau artists aimed at unifying all arts, centering it around man and his life. Therefore architecture, which has a direct influence on mans life, was the central art on which every skill is naturally integrated (Pevsner 18). Louis Sullivan is regarded today as one of the most individual and innovative architects of the developing modern period.

His architecture was dressed with art nouveau detail. He replaced the standard classical ornamentation of the day with highly original, organic architectural details inspired by nature (Twombly 34). One of Sullivan's most famous designs was the creation of a tall commercial office building. The Carson Pirie Scott Store, designed by Sullivan in 1899, marked the high point of the functional tradition in the Chicago school and is the foremost American example of the transformation of utility and structure into powerful architecture (Twombly 60). Also considered one of the most influential architects of his time, Frank Lloyd Wright designed about 1,000 structures, some 400 of which were built. In the late 1800's Wright worked seven years with Sullivan and handled most of his domestic projects.

He described his "organic architectures" as ones that "proceeds, persists, creates, according to the nature of man and his circumstances as they both change" (Costantino 56). Later as an independent architect, Wright became the leader of a style known as the Prairie school. Houses with low-pitched roofs and extended lines that blend into the landscape characterize this style. He was among the many that visited Japan and Europe for inspiration. In 1911 he returned to build a home on his grandfather's Wisconsin farm, Taliesin (Welsh for "shining brow"). It is considered as a famous example of Wright's vision of "organic architecture", and includes work from every decade and phase of his career.

Many pieces today are characterized by the curved and delicate lines of the Art Nouveau style. Louis Comfort Tiffany was a painter and designer of decorative-glass art objects. He is best remembered for inventing a process for making an opalescent glass, known as Tiffany Fav rile glass, which he used to fashion colorful windows, vases, lamps, and other decorative-art objects (Duncan 30). The use of light, color and nature assumed great significance in Tiffany's work as he developed his unique approach to Art Nouveau (Duncan 11).

Tiffany began to design lamps to allow more people to enjoy art and beauty in their own home. Colored glass, Tiffany's lasting love and challenge, was a new source of inspiration. While the glass windows served to transmit the light of day, the lamps represented a new source of illumination independent of daylight. Although the inspiration of these artists was to create a new art for the modern times, there were many influences from other movements and styles. Art from Japan influenced the interpretation of simplifying nature for practitioners of the new style (Johnson 31). Other influences ranged from Islamic to Egyptian, and from Celtic to Scandinavian.

The roots of Art Nouveau go back to Romanticism, Symbolism, the English Arts and Crafts Movement. There are seven distinct design sources upon which the artists of the Art Nouveau movement drew upon (Johnson 35). Celtic and Viking Revivals - Facsimiles of Celtic metalwork; Celtic-inspired architectural ornaments; "Viking" style furniture. Rococo - Eighteenth-century decorative arts and furnishings. Japan and China - Lacquer ware, woodblock prints and textiles.

Islamic World - Persian and Syrian glass; Turkish tiles and textiles. Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movements in England - Paintings, drawings, furniture, metalwork, ceramic and stained glass including James Abbott McNeil Whistler's Variations in Violet and Green. Symbolism - Artists like Gauguin, Signac and Munch. The Cult of Nature - Links between art and nature. The importance of Art Nouveau cannot be denied. Earl A Powell, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC explains, "The Art Nouveau style was self-consciously international and American artists and architects in New York, Buffalo, Boston, Cincinnati and Chicago readily adapted the style".

He goes on to say, "As interpreted by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, the movement in America set the stage for a modernism that in turn had a great influence on progressive art and architecture in the United States, Europe and Japan" (Johnson 109). Art Nouveau was a unique style in the visual arts that reached its peak over a hundred years ago. It began at a time when society was rapidly changing from the settled past to a more urban, industrialized way of life. Even though Art Nouveau was short lived its importance is crucial to the development of modern art styles. Not only was it a beautiful and creative art movement, but it also became a transitional period for art to pass from classical to modern styles. Its influence on design has been a lasting one, often reaching into many unexpected areas.

The style of Art Nouveau had a modern appearance which made it appealing to an evolving society.

Bibliography

Costantino, Maria. Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: Crescent, 1991.
Duncan, Alastair. Louis Comfort Tiffany. New York: H.N. Abrams in association with The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1992.
Johnson, Diane. American Art Nouveau. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1979.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. Toulouse-Lautrec. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977.
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Sir. The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design. New York: F.A. Praeger, 1968.
Twombly, Robert C... Louis Sullivan: His Life and Work. New York, N. Y: Viking, 1986.