The Art Nouveau period ran from about 1895 to 1915 and was
dominated by the creations of Czech-born Alphonse Mucha, Emile Galle,
Louis Tiffany, Rene Lalique, and the art of Aubrey Beardsley. When the
most famous actress of the time, Sarah Bernhardt, was looking for
artistic promotion for a play, she received the innovative work of
Mucha, a commissioned illustrator for books, magazines and calendars. Thrilled by his work, Sarah
Bernhardt gave him more projects from designing stage sets, to costumes
and jewelry. His style was luxurious and indulgent, showing the
curvaceous female form along with flowers and nature, hinting at the
elegant sophistication of ancient Greece. The style caught on and was featured at the
1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. The style thereafter expanded
to include furniture, ceramics, posters, textiles, metalwork, and glass. The fair inspired dancers, whose exotic works
themselves inspired the designs of lamps and other decorations.
It was Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species (1859) and the Descent of
Man (1871) which became linked with the movement, rejoining man to
nature as beautiful women combined in art with swans and flowers. Emile
Galle, a botanist, used insects and flowers on his cameo glass. Rene
Lalique did the same with his jewelry, while Louis Majorelle
incorporated the movement into furniture and lamps. The most famous
artist of the time was perhaps Toulouse-Lautrec who embodied the
movement in his posters. Although the origins were perhaps a Czech
artist living amongst Parisian artisans, the movement became worldwide,
the most notable American proponent being Louis Tiffany, a pioneer in
glass and pottery techniques. In Austria, Art
Nouveau was known as the Secession style and became associated with
Vienna artist, Gustav Klimt. In Germany, it was Jugendstil
("Youth Style"), and in Italy it was the Flower Style. Influences of
Art Nouveau and colored posters of the period have continued down
through the decades, including the hallucinogenic music poster art of
the "Flower Power" 1960s.
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