he History of Oriental Art

By Dennis Hartman
eHow Contributor

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Oriental art is one of the major branches of art classification, along with
European art, art of the Americas, African art and Middle Eastern art. The
development or distinct artistic styles in Japan, China and other eastern
Asian nations has influenced art around the world for thousands of years,
and reveals a great deal about the cultures that produced it.

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Japan

Some of the first significant art to emerge from Japan dates to the
seventh century. Japanese artists came to know the styles of Chinese and
Korean art as the cultures shared their Buddhist beliefs, and Japanese art
from this era is a fusion of Korean and Chinese. Bronze sculpture dominates

Japanese art from the Asuka and Nara periods (roughly the years 550 to
780). Buddhism continued to dominate Japanese artistic subject matter until
1180, when widespread war within Japan changed the national mood from
one of religious introspection to one of conflict and survival, and Samurai
culture was born. In creating war-themed art, Japanese artists adopted a new
realism in their work. Calligraphy also emerged as an art form during this
time. By the Muromachi era (1338 to 1573), Japanese art looked back to its
roots in spirituality. Japanese painting and printmaking flourished during this
period, with subjects ranging from the natural world to ancient mythology.

China

Long before Japan was first settles, early cultures produced primitive
art in China. Since then, Chinese art has been extremely diverse, colored by
the shifting dynasties and the influence of foreign cultures. By the second
century B.C., China already had a distinct artistic style in poetry, sculpture
and music. One of the most well-known pieces of Chinese art today is the
Terracotta Army. Dating from 210 B.C., it consists of 7,000 life-sized figures in
the tomb of the first Qin emperor. The Terracotta Army points to the Chinese
preoccupation with military subjects, the human figure and associating art
with burial rituals.
Buddhism influenced Chinese art in the first century. Through the cycles of
dynastic rule, which lasted until the early twentieth century, Chinese culture
remained in a state of frequent change, and a diverse national body of art
was produced as a result.

Korea

Korean art, like Chinese art, dates from the early days of human
civilization. Due to its geographical location, Korea has often served as a
point of transit between China and Japan, and its art shows the influences of
both cultures. From the first century B.C. to the seventh century A.D., some
of the most notable Korean art was produced in the Baekje kingdom. Art from
this region of southwestern Korea consists primarily of architecture and
sculpture. Harmonious proportions, naturalism of form and the presence of
Buddhist subject matter suggest the influence of nearby China as well as
Japanese traditions. Beginning in the first century B.C., Korean painting
became an established art form. Beginning with the decorated walls of
tombs, Korean painting has been sharply divided between delicate, realistic
compositions intended to be viewed as works of fine art and colorful, stylized
folk art images that commemorate celebrations.

Tibet

Tibetan art is defined by its inclusion of Buddhist subject matter and

principles, even more so than the art of other Oriental cultures. Elements of

Buddhist influence can be found in Tibetan art dating from as far back ad 400
B.C. Geometric patterns, meant to be contemplated while the viewer
meditates, are a common image in Tibetan art. Various Buddhist deities are
also frequently represented both in sculpture and painting. Oftentimes these
images are also intended to aid in meditation. Tibetan art is full of symbolic
images, such as the Dharmacakra, which is a wheel with eight spokes, each
representing one of the eight paths to enlightenment. Among Tibetan art's
most well-known forms is the sand mandala. These geometric images,
painstakingly constructed by Buddhist monks as a means of concentrating
their energies, are ritualistically destroyed as a means of representing the
impermanence of life.

Vietnam

Vietnamese art has been characterized by the various imperialistic

presences in Vietnam, from the Chinese to the French. From the tenth
century to the fifteenth century, Vietnam was independent and produced art
that is distinct from anything brought by outside cultures. Vietnamese art
from this period responds to a blending of religious traditions with elements
of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian principles. Ceramics have figured
prominently in Vietnamese art both during periods of Chinese rule and
Vietnamese independence. Vietnamese ceramic artists have often employed
a limited color palette as a way of emphasizing form. Interest in ceramic and
porcelain art dominated Vietnamese art through the Nguyen dynasty in the
nineteenth century.

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A Brief History of Oriental

and Eastern Art
Oriental art, along with European, Middle Eastern, and African art, and
the art of the Americas, is one of the major branches of art
classification. It includes painting, calligraphy and graphic art, as well
as sculpture and pottery, from the Neolithic to the present day.
The history of Oriental and Eastern art reflects the society in which it
was produced. Religion, politics, philosophy, culture and technology
have all left their mark. This article will look at the three main
constituents of Eastern art: Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Chinese Art

Chinese art has existed for

thousands of years, and is famously diverse in colour, form and style.
It originated as early stone art from around 10,000 BC, and
comprised mainly of pottery and sculpture.
Its early beginnings were based on the religious and supernatural
beliefs of Chinese settlers. Their paintings, quite abstract in form,
involved the same techniques as Chinese calligraphy: a thin brush
was dipped in coloured ink, and minimalist brush strokes used to
represent both people and landscapes. Often, these paintings were
produced to decorate the inside of human burial sites. Landscapes,
usually regarded as the highest form of Chinese painting, rose to
prominence during the years of the Five Dynasties from 907 to 1127
AD.
Chinese sculpture has existed since the beginning of the first dynasty
in 2,100 BC. One of the best preserved and largest examples ever
recovered is the Terracotta Army. Built for and buried with Emperor
Qin Shi Huang, the sculptors broke with previous tradition and cast
human-like figures in magnificence and splendour. The army
surrounded the emperors tomb, watching over and protecting him in
the afterlife. From this point on, albeit on a smaller scale, miniature
pottery figures were created and placed in tombs to accompany the
dead. The finest examples date back from the Tang Dynasty of 618 to
907 AD.

Chinese pottery, however, dates back to the Palaeolithic era. It predates the dynasties and was made from all manner of materials. As its
popularity and ease of construction grew, pottery began to be made
on an industrial scale. Rulers at the time would also request pottery to
me made for them, which theyd then present as gifts or use to trade.
Late imperial China of 1368 to 1911 AD, of which the Ming Dynasty
comprised the first 276 years, produced art of more colour and with
busier compositions. The next few hundred years of the Qing Dynasty
saw the rise of Orthodox school and Individualist painters. The former
celebrated the older styles of thin brush strokes and calligraphy, the
latter produced a more revolutionary and individualist approach. The
Shanghai School, of the late Qing Dynasty to the twentieth century,
encouraged artists to challenge pre-conceived conceptions, improve
on existing techniques, and use their art to comment and question
society and the countrys rapid social change.
The Chinese Communist revolution of 1949 ushered in a new era of
Chinese art. Under the Cultural Revolution, the government supported
what it considered favourable art, while unfavourable artists were
punished. Contemporary, modern-day Chinese art now includes new
forms of expression, such as video and photography.
Japanese Art

Japanese art dates from around

10,000 BC. Similar to Chinese art, it incorporates a wide variety of
styles and types, such as ink painting, pottery and sculpture. As an
island, Japan experienced long periods of isolation.
But, whenever Japan met a foreign culture, it assimilated these foreign
artistic aesthetics into its own existing culture and ideals.
Painting is one of Japans oldest art forms, and probably its most
popular. Like China, it began as simple stick figures decorating silk,
paper and pottery, and developed into a way of expressing centuries
of cultural and political evolution.
Japans first civilisation moulded and then painted pottery and clay
figures. Settlers who arrived later, around 350 BC, brought with them
their knowledge of bronze manufacturing and decoration. When, in the
7th and 8th centuries, Buddhism spread out across the East, Japan
embraced it and learnt more advanced methods of casting bronze.
These included many sculptures of Buddha himself. But, by the end of
the Edo period between 1603 and 1868 AD, most of this had
disappeared because of the waning support from Buddhist temples
and Japanese nobility.
After 1130 BC, Japanese picture scrolls grew in popularity. These
large canvasses were used to paint stories, and are examples of
some of the earliest and best illustrations of men and women.

Other popular periods of Japanese art include the Kamakura, in which

sculpture, calligraphy and painting all flourished from 1180 to 1333
AD.
Art became more elitist and aristocratic during the Muromachi period
of 1338 to 1573 AD. Colours became more conservative too; black
and white or the use of a single colour became commonplace. But as
Japan moved further away from China, secular, independent art
began to flourish. Both religious and secular art were hugely popular
until after the Onin War from 1467 to 1477 AD, when Japan entered a
period in which religion played a far less important role. This is the
primary reason for Japans loss of interest in sculpture a form of
artistic expression thats most associated with religion.
By the early twentieth century, Western culture and artistic values had
imposed themselves on Japanese art. This created a dichotomy:
many schools and artists adopted these new Western styles, while
some reverted further back to older, more traditional Japanese styles.
And from the popularity of post-World War Two American cartoons
and comic books, Japanese anime was born.
Korean Art

In 676 AD, Korea pushed the

Chinese out of their country and back into Manchuria. This created, for

the first time, a single Korean government and it led to a flourishing

art scene. The Goryeo Dynasty, from 918 to 1392 AD, is recognised
as one of the most important periods of Korean cultural development.
Korean art has, through the ages, been heavily influenced by Chinese
art and vice versa. This has helped to strengthen and widen the
artistic styles and identity of both countries. And, in a similar situation
to both China and Japan, Buddhism held a great power over Korean
art. The Unified Silla period from 676 to 935 AD is understood to have
produced some of the best Buddhist art in Korea.
The Joseon Dynasty, established in 1392, led the way for a cultural
renaissance in Korea. Buddhism was out, Neo-Confucianism was in
and this meant the practicing of secular art and culture. However, by
the 15th and 16th centuries, classical art was reintroduced and sat
alongside other artistic innovations in type and style.
Many painting styles within this period include landscapes depicting
nostalgic places and mountainous scenes with trees and clouds. Ink
drawings and paintings were used in particular because they were
able to successfully highlight the contrast between light and dark.
Ceramics, stoneware and porcelain were also produced during this
period. The latter in particular was quite rare and thus made a great
luxury item.
During the twentieth century, painting was the most popular art form.
Of particular importance was abstract painting from the 1930s
onwards. In the 1970s and 1980s Korean monochrome paintings grew
in popularity and helped to challenge pre-conceived idea about ink
and oil painting.
The Modern East Asian Art Market

Chinese art, both old and new, is one of the biggest sellers on the
international scene. From paintings to pottery and sculpture, its
fetching higher and higher prices as collectors across the world try to
buy their own piece of Chinese history. The Chinese market is also
growing, with more Chinese buyers than ever before.

This is having a knock-on effect throughout Asia, with more East Asian
art being sold at auction and to private buyers. It reflects the rise of
Asia on the world scene, and the fact that the middle classes
growing like never before are keen to catch up on their Western
cousins.

Beginnings
Art Nouveau (the "new art") was a widely influential but relatively short-lived
movement that emerged in the final decade of the 19th century and was
already beginning to decline a decade later. This movement - less a collective
one than a disparate group of visual artists, designers and architects spread
throughout Europe was aimed at creating styles of design more appropriate to
the modern age, and it was characterized by organic, flowing lines- forms
resembling the stems and blossoms of plants - as well as geometric forms
such as squares and rectangles.
The advent of Art Nouveau can be traced to two distinct influences: the first
was the introduction, around 1880, of the Arts and Crafts movement, led by
the English designer William Morris. This movement, much like Art Nouveau,
was a reaction against the cluttered designs and compositions of Victorian-era
decorative art. The second was the current vogue for Japanese art,
particularly wood-block prints, that swept up many European artists in the
1880s and 90s, including the likes of Gustav Klimt, Emile Galle and James
Abbott McNeill Whistler. Japanese wood-block prints contained floral and
bulbous forms, and "whiplash" curves, all key elements of what would
eventually become Art Nouveau.
It is difficult to pinpoint the first work(s) of art that officially launched Art
Nouveau. Some argue that the patterned, flowing lines and floral backgrounds
found in the paintings ofVincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin represent Art
Nouveau's birth, or perhaps even the decorative lithographs of Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec, such as La Goule at the Moulin Rouge(1891). But most
point to the origins in the decorative arts, and in particular to a book jacket by
English architect and designer Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo for the 1883

volume Wren's City Churches. The design depicts serpentine stalks of flowers
coalescing into one large, whiplashed stalk at the bottom of the page, clearly
reminiscent of Japanese-style wood-block prints.

Concepts and Styles

Although Art Nouveau has become the most commonly used name for the
movement, its wide popularity throughout Western and Central Europe meant
that it went by several different titles. The most well-known of these
was Jugendstil (Youth Style), by which the styles was known in Germanspeaking countries. Meanwhile in Vienna - home to Gustav Klimt, Otto
Wagner, Josef Hoffmann and the other founders of the Vienna Secession - it
was known asSezessionsstil (Secession Style). It was also known
as Modernismo in Spain and stile Libertyin Italy (after Arthur Liberty's fabric
shop in London, which helped popularize the style). It also went by some
more derogatory names: Style Nouille (noodle style) in France, Paling Stijl (eel
style) in Belgium, and Bandwurmstil (tapeworm style) in Germany, all of which
made playful reference to Art Nouveau's tendency to employ sinuous and
flowing lines.
Art Nouveau's ubiquity in the late 19th century must be explained in part by
many artists' use of popular and easily reproduced forms such as graphic art.
In Germany, Jugendstil artists like Peter Behrens and Hermann Obrist, among
many others, had their work printed on book covers and exhibition catalogs,
magazine advertisements and playbills. But this trend was by no means
limited to Germany. The English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, perhaps the
most controversial Art Nouveau figure due to his combination of the erotic and
macabre, created a number of posters in his brief career that employed
graceful and rhythmic lines. Beardsley's highly decorative prints, such as The

Peacock Skirt (1894), were both decadent and simple, and represent the most
direct link we can identify between Art Nouveau and Japonisme.

The Architecture of Europe

In addition to the graphic and visual arts, any serious discussion of Art
Nouveau must consider architecture and the vast influence this had on
European culture. In urban hubs such as Paris, Prague and Vienna, and even
in Eastern European cities like Riga, Budapest, and Sveged, Hungary, Art
Nouveau-inspired architecture prevailed on a grand scale, in both size and
appearance. Turn-of-the-century buildings, like the Museum of Applied Arts in
Budapest and the Secession Building in Vienna, are prime examples of Art
Nouveau's decorative and symmetrical architectural aesthetic. The arrival in
the same period of urban improvements such as subway lines also provided
an important outlook for Art Nouveau designers. Hector Guimard's designs for
entrances to the Paris subway (c.1900) are particularly fondly remembered
examples of the style.

The Vienna Secession

No other group of artists did more to popularize and spread the Art Nouveau
style than the Vienna Secessionists, the collective of visual artists, decorators,
sculptors, architects and designers, who first banded together in 1897 to
promote their own work and organize exhibitions that resisted the
conservatism that still prevailed in so many of Europe's traditional art
academies. Arguably the most prolific and influential of the secessionists was
painter Gustav Klimt, creator of such definitive examples of early modernism
as Hope II and The Kiss(both 1907-08). The elaborate decorations in his
paintings, including gold and silver leaf, and rhythmical abstractions, make
them some of the most widely revered examples of the style.

Later Developments
Despite its popularity - both in terms of its geographical spread and its
influence on the creation of so many media - Art Nouveau enjoyed very few
moments during its heyday when all artistic elements came together to be
recognized as a coherent whole. One exception was the 1900 World's Fair in
Paris (Exposition Universelle), where the Art Nouveau style was present in all
its forms. Of particular note was the construction and opening of the Grand
Palais in 1900, a building which, although in the Beaux Arts tradition,
contained an interior glass dome that clearly adopted the Art Nouveau
decorative style. Other exhibitions took place throughout the continent during
this time, but none could claim to be celebrating Art Nouveau in such a
comprehensive manner as had the Paris Expo.
If Art Nouveau quickly stormed Europe in the late 19th century, artists,
designers and architects abandoned it just as quickly in the first decade of the
20th century. Although the movement had made the doctrine that "form should
follow function" central to their ethos, some designers tended to be lavish in
their use of decoration, and the style began to be criticized for being overly
elaborate. In a sense, as the style matured, it started to revert to the very
habits it had scorned, and a growing number of opponents began to charge
that rather than renewing design, it had merely swapped the old for the
superficially new.

Art Nouveau Staircase (1893-7)

Emile Tassel House, Brussels.
Design by architect Victor Horta,
member of Les Vingt artist group.
DESIGN STYLES and MOVEMENTS
For details of late 19th-century and
early 20th century styles of art and
design, see: Modern Art Movements.
For details of contemporary art
design styles since the 1960s,
see: Contemporary Art Movements.
For Art Nouveau's significance
for graphic design, see:
History of Poster Art.

Salome (1892) Art Nouveau drawing

by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98).
EVOLUTION OF ART & DESIGN
For details of movements and
styles, see: History of Art.
For the chronology and dates
of key events in the evolution
of visual arts and design,

Introduction
Art Nouveau was an innovative international style of modern art that became
fashionable from about 1890 to the First World War. Arising as a reaction to
19th-century designs dominated by historicism in general and neoclassicism in
particular, it promulgated the idea of art and design as part of everyday life.
Henceforth artists should not overlook any everyday object, no matter how
functional it might be. This aesthetic was considered to be quite revolutionary
and new, hence its name - New Art - or Art Nouveau. Hence also the fact that it
was applied to a host of different forms including architecture, fine art,applied
art, and decorative art. Rooted partly in the Industrial Revolution, and the Arts
and Crafts Movement, but also influenced by Japonism (especiallyUkiyo-e
prints by artists like Hokusai and his younger contemporary Hiroshige)
and Celtic designs, Art Nouveau was given a major boost by the 1900
Exposition Universelle in Paris. After this, it spread across Europe and as far as
the United States and Australia, under local names
like Jugendstil (Germany),Stile Liberty (Italy), Sezessionstil (Austria)
and Tiffany style (America). A highly decorative idiom, Art Nouveau typically
employed intricate curvilinear patterns of sinuous asymetrical lines, often based
on plant-forms (sometimes derived from La Tene forms of Celtic art). Floral and
other plant-inspired motifs are popular Art Nouveau designs, as are female
silhouettes and forms. Employing a variety of materials, the style was used in
architecture, interior design, glassware, jewellery, poster art and illustration, as
well as painting and sculpture. The movement was replaced in the 1920s by Art
Deco.

Art Nouveau is usually deemed a matter of 'style' rather than a philosophy: but,
in fact, distinctive ideas and not only fanciful desires prompted its appearance.
Common to all the most consistently Art Nouveau creators was a determination
to push beyond the bounds of historicism - that exaggerated concern with the

see: History of Art Timeline.

ARTISTS SINCE 1800
For details of the best modern
painters, since 1800, see:
Famous Painters.
WORLD'S GREATEST ARTWORKS
For a list of the Top 10 painters/
sculptors: Best Artists of All Time.

ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS

In addition to those mentioned in
the text, here is a short list of
noted Art Nouveau designers.
Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898)
Ivan Bilibin (1876-1942)
Walter Crane (1845-1915)
Jules Cheret (1836-1932)
Eugene Grasset (1845-1917)
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
E. M. Lilien (1874-1925)
Jozef Mehoffer (1869-1946)
Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939)
Jozsef Rippl-Ronai (1861-1927)
Valentin Serov (1865-1911)
Konstantin Somov (1869-1939)
Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
Janos Vaszary (1867-1939)
Stanislaw Wyspianski (1869-1907)
Eliseu Visconti (1866-1944)
FURNITURE DESIGNERS
These include:
Eugene Gaillard (1862-1933)
Louis Majorelle (1859-1926)
GLASS DESIGNERS
Famous Art Nouveau glass
designers include:
mile Galle(1846-1904)
Ren Lalique (1860-1945)
Louis Tiffany (1848-1933)
Auguste Daum (1853-1909)
Antonin Daum (1864-1930)
DECORATIVE ARTISTS
Famous Art Nouveau designers
in the decorative arts include:
Vilmos Zsolnay (1828-1900)
Hermann Obrist (1863-1927)
Will H. Bradley (1868-1962)
Georges de Feure (1868-1943)
Artus Van Briggle (1869-1904)

notions of the past which characterises the greater part of 19th-century design:
they sought, in a fresh analysis of function and a close study of natural forms, a
new aesthetic. It is true that the outer reaches of Art Nouveau are full of
mindless pattern-making but there was, at and around the centre, a marvellous
sequence of works in which the decorative and the functional fuse to novel and
compelling effect. Art Nouveau means much more than a single look or mood:
we are reminded of tall grasses in light wind, or swirling lines of stormy water,
or intricate vegetation - all stemming from organic nature: an interest in which
should be understood as proceeding from a sense of life's order lost or
perverted amidst urban industrial stress.
NOTE: For other art and design movements similar to Art Nouveau, see Art
Movements, Periods, Schools (from about 100 BCE).
Definition, Characteristics
There is no single definition or meaning of Art Nouveau. But the following are
distinguishing factors. (1) Art Nouveau philosophy was in favour of applying
artistic designs to everyday objects, in order to make beautiful things available
to everyone. No object was too utilitarian to be "beautified". (2) Art Nouveau
saw no separation in principle between fine art (painting and sculpture) and
applied or decorative arts (ceramics, furniture, and other practical objects). (3)
In content, the style was a reaction to a world of art which was dominated by
the precise geometry of Neoclassical forms. It sought a new graphic design
language, as far away as possible from the historical and classical models
employed by the arts academies. (4) Art Nouveau remains something of an
umbrella term which embraces a variety of stylistic interpretations: some artists
used new low-cost materials and mass production methods while others used
more expensive materials and valued high craftsmanship.
Types of Designs
In line with with the Art Nouveau philosophy that art should become part of
everyday life, it employed flat, decorative patterns that could be used in all art
forms. Typical decorative elements include leaf and tendril motifs, intertwined
organic forms, mostly curvaceous in shape, although right-angled designs were
also prevalent in Scotland and in Austria. Art made in this style typically
depicted lavish birds, flowers, insects and other zoomorphs, as well as the hair
and curvaceous bodies of beautiful women. For Art Nouveau architectural
designs, see the exaggerated bulbous forms of the Spanish architect Antoni
Gaudi (1852-1926), and the stylistic Parisian Metro entrances of Hector
Guimard (1867-1942).

History of Art Nouveau

The term "Art Nouveau" stemmed from the name of the Parisian art gallery,
called "La Maison de l'Art Nouveau", owned by the avant-garde artcollectorSiegfried Bing (1838-1905), which showcased works created in the
Art Nouveau style. The gallery's reputation and fame was considerably boosted
by its installations of modern furniture, tapestries and objets d'art at the 1900
Exposition Universelle, after which the gallery's name became almost
synonymous with the style.
At the same time, in Belgium the style was promoted by Les Vingt and La Libre
Esthetique, while in Germany the style was popularized and promoted by a
magazine called Jugend: Mnchner illustrierte Wochenschrift fr Kunst und
Leben (Youth: the illustrated weekly magazine of art and lifestyle of Munich),

which is why German Art Nouveau - along with that of the Netherlands, the
Baltic and the Nordic countries - has since been known as "Jugendstil" (youthstyle). In Austria, Art Nouveau was first popularized by artists of the Vienna
Secession movement, leading to the adoption of the name "Sezessionstil". In
fact, the Vienna Secessionists, like Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867-1908),
influenced art and architecture throughout Austria-Hungary. In Germany, where
Art Nouveau was known as Jugendstil, many of its leading practitioners came
together again in 1907 as members of the Deutscher Werkbund (German Work
Federation).
Other temporary names were used which reflected the novelty of the style, or
its ribbon-like curvilinear designs. For example, in France it was also known as
"le style moderne" or "le style nouille" (noodle style); in Spain, "arte joven"
(young art); in Italy "arte nuova" and in the Netherlands "Nieuwe kunst" (both,
new art). The style was also named after certain of its exponents or promoters.
For instance, Hector Guimard's Parisian Metro entrances led to the temporary
name "Style Metro"; in America the movement was called the "Tiffany style"
due to its connection with the Art Nouveau glassmaker and jeweller Louis
Comfort Tiffany.
Evolution of Art Nouveau
The origins of Art Nouveau are unclear, although most art historians agree that
its roots lay in the English Arts and Crafts Movement, championed by the
medievalist William Morris, as well as the flat-perspective and strong colours of
Japanese woodcuts. This idiom was reinforced by the wave of Japonism that
swept through Europe in the 1880s and 1890s, and by the decorative painting
styles of Synthetism (Gauguin) and Cloisonnism (Bernard, Anquetin) developed
at the Pont-Aven School in Brittany. For more details, please see: Post
Impressionist Painting (1880-95).
As a movement, Art Nouveau shared certain features with Romanticism, thePreRaphaelites, the Symbolists, and the Arts and Crafts Movement, although each
differed in various ways. For example, unlike Symbolist painting, Art Nouveau
has a distinctive visual look; and, in contrast to the artisan-oriented Arts &
Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau artists readily employed new materials, and did
not turn their backs on mass-produced or machined surfaces.
Connections were also forged between practitioners of Jugendstil and Celticstyle artists, notably in the area of abstract patternwork. Christopher
Dresser'sUnity in Variety (1859) - a treatise on botany for artists, was also
influential. But it is Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo (1851-1942) who is often
identified as the first designer in whom historical precedents were sufficiently
subdued for the new mode to show clearly. Indeed, the earliest example of Art
Nouveau was the variety of rhythmic floral patterns used by Mackmurdo in his
book-cover for Sir Christopher Wren's City Churches (1883). His buildings,
furniture, graphics and textiles derive definitely, though not exclusively, from
the natural world, convey a strong sense of their materials, and are structurally
elemental. Mackmurdo accepted a good deal of Ruskin's involvement with the
social and economic conditions of art and turned eventually to the composition
of political tracts. Whatever its exact origins, Art Nouveau benefited enormously
from the exposure it received at international exhibitions such as the Paris
Exposition Universelle (1900) and the Turin Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte
Decorativa Moderna (1902), as well as individual outlets such as London's
Liberty & Co and Siegfried Bing's "Maison de l'Art Nouveau".
The style has been said to end in the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (18681928), a key figure in the Glasgow School of Painting (1880-1915). Painter,
architect and designer, he was initially attracted by the creative freedom of Art

Nouveau and its encouragement of the fanciful, but he used a cooler treatment.
The essentials of his passage may be traced in one place, the Glasgow School of
Art. A system of repeated curving forms in the main building (1897-9) gave way
to regimented verticals and horizontals in the library (1907-9): the new order
fell to a new orderliness. From then on, the need and the wish for economy of
means, a desire to exploit easy mechanical replication, became dominant. Both
architecture and the applied arts contrived an ethic and an aesthetic based on
meaner notions of utility.
Applications
Art Nouveau designs were most common in glassware, jewellery, and other
decorative objects like ceramics. But the style was also applied to textiles,
household silver, domestic utensils, cigarette cases, furniture and lighting, as
well as drawing, poster art, painting and book illustration. Theatrical design of
sets and costumes was another area in which the new style flourished. The best
examples are the designs created by Leon Bakst (1866-1924) and Alexander
Benois (1870-1960) for Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Art Nouveau also had
a strong application in the field of architecture and interior design. In this area
it exemplified a more humanistic and less functionalist approach to the urban
environment. Hyperbolas and parabolas in windows, arches, and doors were
typical as were plant-derived forms for moldings. Art Nouveau interior designers
updated some of the more abstract elements of Rococo style, such as flame and
shell textures, and also employed highly stylized organic forms, expanding the
'natural' repertoire to include seaweed, grasses, and insects. Art Nouveau
architectural designs made broad use of exposed iron and large, irregular pieces
of glass.
Art Nouveau Decorative Glass and Jewellery
In both these areas, Art Nouveau found tremendous expression, as exemplified
in works by Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York, Charles Rennie
Mackintoshin Glasgow and Emile Galle and the Daum brothers in Nancy,
France. Jewellery of the Art Nouveau period saw new levels of virtuosity in
enameling as well as the introduction of new materials such as moulded glass,
horn, and ivory. The growth of interest in Japanese art (a fashion known as
Japonisme), along with increased respect for Japanese metalworking skills, also
stimulated new themes and approaches to ornamentation. As a result, jewellers
stopped seeing themselves as mere craftsmen whose task was to provide
settings for precious stones like diamonds, and began seeing themselves as
artist-designers. A new type of Art Nouveau jewellery emerged that depended
less on its gemstone content and more on its designwork. The jewellers of Paris
and Brussels were at the forefront of the Art Nouveau movement and it was in
these cities that it achieved the greatest success. In America, Louis Comfort
Tiffany (1848-92) was an adventurous creator of luxury objects, mainly in
glass, often utilising the shot-silk glow of metallic iridescence, and inspired by
flower and feather. Tiffany's firm was enormously successful and his goods were
much imitated.
Art Nouveau Architecture
Art Nouveau architecture was one of the great ubiquitous cultural impulses,
appearing virtually throughout Europe and Scandinavia, and in America too.
A very vigorous strain developed in Belgium, where Henri van de
Velde(1863-1937) pared away the conventions of art and architecture in favour
of a rather rigid floral style (his house at Uccle, 1895), while Victor
Horta (1861-1947) seems to have passed the rule-book through a maze of
botanical fact (the Hotel Tassel, 1892-3, and the Maison du Peuple, 1896-9 in
Brussels). Horta was widely admired for his readiness to reconsider basic design

problems and for the fluency of his adaptations of organic principle. For the
Tassel house he opened up the centre into a sort of conservatory space in which
the exposed cast iron supports are themselves stylised plants. And the Maison
du Peuple he constructed around a sinuous iron frame, every decorative
element of which arose from the containment of stresses. It was said that 'he
follows the secret law obeyed by vegetation, which grows in immutable and
ever harmonious forms, but he compels himself never to draw a motif, nor to
describe a solitary curve which could be seen as a pastiche of natural form'.
In France, Art Nouveau-style nineteenth century architecture had the State's
seal of approval when Guimard's designs for the Paris Metro stations were
accepted, and above the subways (1898-1900) sprouted elaborate
arrangements of iron and glass resembling large bean shoots and seedpods.Hector Guimard (1867-1942) had liked Horta's work in Brussels and
hoped to extend its radical disruption of expected architectural behaviour. But
the most spectacular results of the decision to rethink design from the ground
up, so to speak, are to be found in Spain. Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926)
conceived for Barcelona a series of architectural extravaganzas, apparently
pervaded by thoughts of nature in its less attractive manifestations - the rabbit
warren or termite hill, reptilean anatomy, weeds on the rampage. The Palacio
Guell(1885-9) has already the ebb and flow, the rhythmic asymmetry of his
mature efforts, but is relatively urbane. The Casa Mila (1905-07) is a riotous
assembly of pitted stone and twisting iron, with a ground plan which altogether
ignores the right-angle. And the Church of the Sagrada Familia (1884,
uncompleted) bemuses the visitor, with its four towers like monster decaying
cucumbers: it resembles, on the whole, a vegetable garden in the grip of some
ferocious virus and mutating freely. Meanwhile, in America, the giant office
blocks ofLouis Sullivan (1856-1924) - the Wainwright Building, St Louis
(1890), the Guaranty Building, Buffalo (1894), the Carson, Pirie & Scott Store,
Chicago (1899-1904) - reveal in their facades, their honeycomb insides and the
strips and panels which divide the cells a riot of plant-like ornament.
Art Nouveau architectural designs were widespread throughout many parts of
central and eastern Europe, including Latvia (Riga), the Czech Republic
(Prague), Poland (Krakow), Slovenia (Ljubljana), as well as Italy. Leading Art
Nouveau architects and designers included the Hungarian architect Odon
Lechner (18451914), the French architect Hector Guimard (1867-1942), the
Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), the Belgian architect Victor
Horta (1861-1947), and the Viennese designers Otto Wagner (1841-1918)
andJoseph Maria Olbrich (1867-1908), to name but a few. Further afield,
examples of Art Nouveau-style buildings can be seen in South America
(Uraguay's Montevideo) and Australia.
Famous Art Nouveau Artists
The two greatest graphic artists of the Art Nouveau movement were the French
lithographer Jules Cheret (1836-1932) whose invention of "3-stone
chromolithography" made Art Nouveau poster art feasible, and the Czech
lithographer and designer Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) whose celebrated
posters epitomized the Art Nouveau idiom. Emile Galle of France and Louis
Comfort Tiffany of the United States were famous for their colourful Art
Nouveau glassware, as were the English artists Aubrey Beardsley and Walter
Crane for their wonderful Art Nouveau drawings. Other famous artists involved
in the "new art" included: the French jewellery designer Rene Lalique, the
Viennese painter Gustav Klimt, the Polish theatrical designer and stained glass
artist Stanislaw Wyspianski, and the Scottish architect and designer Charles
Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), leader of the Glasgow School.

Legacy & Influence of Art Nouveau

While Art Nouveau promoted a more widespread adoption of "beautiful" design,
it did not diminish the value of the machine or mass-production (as the Arts and
Crafts Movement did), but instead took advantage of many technological
innovations from the late 19th century. Even so, by World War I, it too
succumbed to the more streamlined design processes that were beginning to
become available.
Possibly its greatest influence was on (1) 20th-century advocates of integrated
design, such as the German Bauhaus design school and the Dutch design
movement De Stijl; and (2) Graphic art such as illustration and poster-design.
Nowadays, Art Nouveau is viewed as an important bridge between
Neoclassicism and modernism, and a number of its monuments are on the
UNESCO World Heritage List, notably the historic centre of Riga, Latvia with
over 750 buildings in the Art Nouveau style.

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