Their tiles proved popular for exterior cladding on buildings from factories to shops, and some of their designs bore Art Nouveau motifs, such as foliage, hearts and whiplash curves.Īlthough most Art Nouveau buildings had conventional structures, the movement took advantage of both craft and industrial technology for their ornamental work. One area in which it was influential was pottery, and firms such as Doulton, who made vases and other pottery for the home as well as ceramic tiles for buildings, made a big impact. In England the movement had a greater influence on product design than on architecture. Further east, cities such as Prague, Moscow and Riga became centers of Art Nouveau decoration. The style also spread to Germany, where it was known as the Jugendstil. Another Belgian, Victor Horta, followed in his footsteps. Belgian Henry van de Velde began as an artist and book designer before bringing the long curves of Art Nouveau to wall decoration and structural details, such as the shapes of roofs. Frenchman Hector Guimard explored the use of colorful materials, such as faience, and transformed Paris with the dramatic curving ironwork of his Métro station entrances. It has a dome covered with laurel leaf decoration.Īrchitects picked up on these influences in different ways. Olbrich’s most famous work is the Secession Building in Vienna, where the group held exhibitions. The group’s most prominent architect was Joseph Maria Olbrich who, partly influenced by Scotsman Charles Rennie Mackintosh, developed a strong rectilinear style adorned with contrasting flowing Art Nouveau ornament. Because it appeared on the front of a book about architecture that many British architects must have bought, it was a strong influence on the curves and forms of architectural Art Nouveau.Ī crisis occurred in the arts in Vienna in around 1898 when a group of artists broke away, or seceded, from the establishment to form the movement called the Secession. Dating from 1883, this design features flowers and strong curving stems and leaves in bold monochrome.
Graphics were an area in which Art Nouveau motifs could be worked out and developed, and another strong influence was a book cover for a volume called Wren’s City Churches, designed by architect A.H. A third was the work of the Czech artist Alfons Mucha, whose posters, much used in major international centers such as Paris, stimulated a fashion for sinuous curves, images of flowers and portrayals of sensuous feminine beauty. Another was a new fashion in Europe for Japanese art, with its strong graphic content and rich colors. One came from the ideas of William Morris and John Ruskin, who reacted against Victorian art with a call for less clutter and more investigation of natural forms. Several different influences caused artists to create the Art Nouveau style. Its natural motifs and sinuous curves transformed architecture in cites from Prague to Paris, and the movement proved a rich begetter of local variations, including the more rectilinear styles that caught on in Austria. One of the strongest reactions against the clutter, formality and artistic revivalism of the Victorian period was Art Nouveau-a style of art that swept across Europe between about 18.
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