Art Nouveau Lecture Notes

William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement

  • Frontispiece from Friends in Need Meet in the Wildwood:

    • William Morris aimed to reinvent bookmaking using medieval techniques.

    • Established Kelmscott Press in 1891.

    • The illustration influenced JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.

  • Wall Coverings:

    • Acanthus print and Brother Rabbit print are popular styles.

    • Example: The Up and Up bar in Greenwich Village uses William Morris wallpaper.

  • Sussex Side Chair:

    • Morris rejected industrialization but used some consumption techniques.

    • Aesthetic movement influence: Japan opens its doors in 1862, impacting the West.

  • Olana: Home of Frederick Edwin Church in Greenport, NY, built in 1872.

    • Embodies the aesthetic movement with Moorish, Persian, and Victorian styles.

    • Use of rich textiles and colors.

  • Peacock Room by James Whistler: Inspired by Japanese iconography.

Aubrey Beardsley and the Aesthetic Movement

  • Illustrations: The Climax and The Peacock Skirt (1893) for Oscar Wilde's Salome.

  • Leading figure in the British aesthetic movement, developing the Art Nouveau style.

  • Characterized by organic lines and whiplash curves.

  • Explorations of death, dreams, and psychology with a sinister quality.

  • Heavy Japanese inspiration: peacock motifs and hairstyles.

Symbolist Art Movement

  • Explores themes of fantasy, death, and dreams.

  • Jan Turop's Oh Grave, Where Is Thy Victory? (1892):

    • Taken from a letter by the apostle Paul, about faith over death.

    • Death delivers from earthly suffering. A man is entwined with thorny branches, symbolizing sorrow.

    • Angels free the dead man.

  • Odilon Redon's Eye Balloon (1878): A dreamlike image.

  • Symbolist painters reflect emotion or idea rather than objective reality.

  • Advocated personal expressivity and recreation of emotional experiences through color, line, and composition.

Art Nouveau: France and Belgium

  • Two main locations: Paris, France, and Belgium.

  • Extension of the Enlightenment: colonialism justified as civilizing the uncivilized.

  • Europeans believed in refining and educating unenlightened areas.

  • Belgium and Colonialism:

    • Late to the colonialism, establishing a presence in Congo in 1885.

    • The Congo was rich in resources like ivory and rubber.

    • King Leopold II's brutal rule led to the deaths of 8-12 million Congolese people.

    • Workers were maimed for not meeting quotas.

  • Context of Movements:

    • Art Nouveau favored by the wealthy, benefiting from exploitation.

Henri Van de Velde

  • Incorporated ivory into designs like letter openers.

  • Desk inspired by elephants, with stained glass and curvilinear forms.

  • Designed a dress for his wife to match their home's interiors.

  • Concept: Gesamt Kunstwerk (total work of art).

  • Historian Deborah Silverman connects Art Nouveau lines to whiplash curves.

Victor Horta and Art Nouveau in Brussels

  • Hotel Tassel (1893): private home.

    • Facade with organic forms.

    • Interior features uncontained organic lines with structural elements.

    • Pillars and doors have organic forms.

    • Designed to let in more light.

    • Wrought iron used inside.

Hector Guimard and Art Nouveau in Paris

  • Entry to the Castle Béranger (1894-1898).

  • First Art Nouveau residence in Paris.

  • Banquette (1897): a humidor bench for cigars.

    • Lines echo smoke.

    • Smoking became more common at this time, so pieces like such became more required.

  • Paris Metro Entrances:

    • Wrought iron designs like bones or flowers.

    • Blends technology and plant life.

    • Public interaction with Art Nouveau. "Reject the flower, keep the stem."

Chromolithography and Public Advertising

  • Developed in 1837, widely used by the end of 1800s.

  • Boom in public advertising in Paris (1890-1900).

  • Artists displayed work publicly.

  • Posters became collectibles.

Alphonse Mucha

  • Artist from Prague.

  • Advertisement for Job Cigarettes:

    • Portrays women beautifully with movement and rich colors.

    • Conveys the feeling and sensation of smoking.

  • Poster for Medea, starring Sarah Bernhardt:

    • Illustrates Medea's insanity and panic.

    • Captures emotion with form and imagery.

  • Precious Stones and Flowers series:

    • Personifies women as goddess-like figures.

  • Influence on 1960s Psychedelic Art:

    • Borrowed Art Nouveau themes for concert posters.

Emile Galé and the Nancy School

  • Glass maker who founded the Nancy School in Nancy, France.

  • Inspired by nature, handcrafts, architecture, furniture, and decorative arts.

  • Kept dead plants around to explore life, death, dreams, and psychology.

  • Influenced by symbolism and Freud's psychoanalysis.

  • Bat Vase:

    • Night and day scenes symbolizing dreaming and interiority.

    • Bats symbolize darkness and unseen activity.

    • Uses elements of metamorphosis.

    • Studied botany.

    • Uses native french plants to differentiate from German plants, creating a sense of national identity.

Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris

  • Porte Binet: entrance to the exhibition with metamorphic evolutionism.

  • La Parisienne: embodiment of Paris as a modern woman (nouvelle femme).

  • Tradition of the Great Exhibition of 1851: nationalistic spectacles.

  • Gallery L'Art Nouveau:

    • Managed by Siegfried Bing, influenced by Japanese art.

    • Rejected hierarchy of art and design.

    • Pavilion at the exhibition shifted to French style.

  • Loïe Fuller:

    • American dancer with her own pavilion designed by Henri Savage.

    • Used technology to create illusions in her dances.

    • Fluid movements and dance referenced fluidity of the building.

Femme Fatale and Nouvelle Femme

  • Comparison of Aubrey Beardsley image and Mucha poster.

  • Advancing women's rights and first-wave

    • Feminist movement.

  • Rise of bicycles and the first International Congress of Women Conference.

  • Femme Fatale: dangerous, sinister woman.

  • Dragonfly Woman Corsage Ornament:

    • Jewelry design by, Lalique, made of gold, enamel, cryophase, moonstones, and diamonds.

    • Woman crawling out of a dragonfly, moving parts.

  • Satirical Response:

    • Alan Jones chair in 1969: idea of sitting on/controlling a woman.

  • Themes: Whiplash curve, sinister nature, femme fatale, dreams and subconscious, imperialism, Alfonse Mucha, Bauhaus, and Gesamtkunstwerk.

  • Advertisements: Rise in advertisements and posters.