The name Art Nouveau comes from the name of the art gallery La Maison de l’Art Nouveau (1895) in Paris owned by the German art merchant Siegfried Bing.

He thought that Europe was going through a period of great social, political, and technological changes, and that art and desing must reflect such changes.

Bing’s art gallery became the centre of the concept of the ‘new art’ (i.e. art nouveau) which wanted to free art from the old ties which prevented its progress and renovation. La Maison de l’Art Nouveau in Paris in the 1880s.

In English, the movement was also called Modern Style, or Studio Style.

In Italy the movement was best known as Stile Liberty. It derives from the name of the shop Liberty & Co. in London owned by Arthur Liberty selling objects and fabrics in the Art Nouveau style at the end of the 19th century.

Liberty & Co. shop, Regent Street, London, in the early years of the 20th century.

Art Nouveau was an artistic movement which existed from 1890 to about 1910.

It was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, Pre-Raphaelism, and Symbolism.

It was also influenced by the taste for the art of Japan and the Far East (Japonisme).

Cover of the magazine Paris Illustré, vol. 4 (1886)

It became famous thanks to the Great Exhibition in Paris in 1900, then it spread across Europe, in the USA and other parts of the world (such as Russia, and South America).

The International Exposition of Decorative Modern Art in Turin in 1902 was its moment of maximum success.

Leonardo Bistolfi, advertising poster for the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Turin, 1902

Cover of the 1st issue of The Studio by Aubrey Beardsley (1893)

Art Nouveau spread across the world and reached a large audience thanks to the new printingtechnologies which allowed arts magazines to publishphotographs and colour lithographs and reproductions of the main works of the new artisticmovement.

The Studio in the UK, Arts et idèes and Art et décoration in France, and Jugend in Germany werethe most influential magazines which helped Art Nouveau to spread across Europe.

Aubrey Beardsley, The Climax (Salome kissing Iokaan’s head), illustration for Wilde’s Salome (1863).

Thanks to magazines, the English artist Aubrey Beardsley and the French artist

Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec became internationally recognized illustrators.

In particular, Beardsley’s illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s Salome (1863) were considered

the first examples of Art Nouveau in the UK.

Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril (1893), advertising posterfor the dancer Jane Avril performing at the club Le Jardin de Paris.

Posters became more than an advertising tool: they became a form of art, especially thanks to Toulouse-Lautrec and the Czech artist Alfons Maria Mucha.

Alfons Maria Mucha, Gismonda (1895), advertising poster for French actress Sarah Bernhardt’s performance in Paris.

Art Nouveau developed in different ways in various parts of the world, but the main characteristics were always the same.

It applied its artistic concepts to a large number of different fields such as architecture, interior design, jewels, furniture, decorative objects, and glass works.

After 1910, and generally after I World War, Art Nouveau was considered an old-fashioned decorative style with nothing new to say.

It was the end of the artistic movement.

Alphonse Mucha, Evening Star (1902)

Advertising poster for the exhibition on Beardsley at the V&A Museum, London, 1966

In the 1960s, a number of exhibitions gave new life to Art Nouveau which was therefore considered as one of the major artistic movements of the turn of the century.

The exhibitions were held in New York (MoMA, 1959), in Paris (Musée National d’Art Moderne, 1960), and in London (V&A Museum, on Beardsley, 1966).

Henry Guimard, underground entrance in Paris (1900) Otto Wagner, Karlsplatz railway station in Vienna (1899)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to architecture.

Victor Horta, Hôtel Tassel, Brussels (1892-93)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to architecture.

Sima Mihash and Stanislav Brzozowski, Vitebsky railway station in St. Petersburg (1904)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to architecture.

Mikhail Eisenstein, façade of a house in Riga (1903)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to architecture.

Riga was declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage due to the many Art Nouveau examples in its city centre.

Antoni Gaudí, Josep Maria Jujol, Casa Battló in Barcelona (1904-06)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to architecture.

In Spain, the movement was called Modernismo. Antoni Gaudí was its main representative. He invented the method called trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces to create works of art.

Façade of the Club Español building in Rosario, Argentina (1912).

Example of Art Nouveau applied to architecture.

Pietro Fenoglio, Villa La Fleur in Turin (1903)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to architecture.

Hector Guimard, Desk (about 1895) Louis Majorelle, Armchair (1899-1900)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to furniture.

Émile Gallé, glass vase

Example of Art Nouveau applied to glassware.

Rene Lalique, Tiara comb & bodice ornament (1903)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to jewels.

Antoni Rigalt, stained glass ceiling of Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona (1905-08).

Example of Art Nouveau applied to stained glass.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, Pastoral Window, Second Presbiterian Church, Chicago (1907)

Louis Comfort Tiffany, Spring, panel (1899)

Example of Art Nouveau applied to stained glass.

Alphonse Mucha, Lily, from The Flower Series (1898)

It was characterized by undulating asymmetrical lines which often took the form of flower stalks and buds, vine tendrils, insect wings, and other delicate and sinuous natural objects.

It was also characterized by the asymmetrical composition of geometrical shapes.

Alphonse Mucha, Woman with a Daisy, tapestry (1900)

Its typical feature was the decorative motive of the whiplash, an ornamental curve in the shape of an ‘S’ which can be also interpreted as a metaphor for artistic freedom.

it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveauwww.britannica.com/art/Art-Nouveau

www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/art-nouveauwww.treccani.it/enciclopedia/stile-

liberty_(Enciclopedia-Italiana) www.vam.ac.uk/collections/art-nouveau