Art Nouveau
Ciara Nolan
2771892
Course: BA in Interior Architecture
Stage/Year:Second Year full time
Module: The History of Design and Architecture
Semester: Semister II
Assignment Number: 2nd
Wednesday 23rd February 2011
Assessor: Maebh O’Regan
Art Nouveau, 1890-1914, explored a new style in the visual arts and architecture that originated in Europe and North America at the end of the nineteenth century. Art Nouveau was an attempt to create an international style based on decoration. It was developed by a generation of artists and designers who wished to design an art form appropriate to the modern age. They believed that the greatest beauty could be found in nature. It established urban life as we now understand it. It incorporated old customs, habits, and artistic styles with new ideas. Some were excited by new technologies and lifestyles, while others retreated into the past, embracing the spirit world, fantasy, and myth. Art Nouveau was an outcome of the Industrial Revolution. Some artists architects and designers welcomed technological progress and aesthetic possibilities of new materials e.g. Cast iron. Others disliked the mass production, machine-made goods and aimed bring the decorative arts to the level of fine art by using the highest standards of craftsmanship and design to everyday objects.
Maison de l'Art Nouveau (House of New Art) a gallery Opened in Paris 1895 by a German art dealer named Samuel Bing. It marked his exclusive focus on modern art. His gallery became famous at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, where he presented coordinated—in design and colour—installations of modern furniture, tapestries and objets d'art. His displays became linked with the style that the name of his gallery subsequently provided a commonly used term for the entire style: Art Nouveau
Because of typical flat, decorative patterns used in previous art, Art Nouveau became known as 'the noodle style' or, 'Le style nouilles'. It emphasized handcrafting as opposed to machine manufacturing, the use of new materials. Curving lines characterize Art Nouveau; however right-angled forms are also typical, especially in Scotland and in Austria. Modern industrial techniques and modern materials (unmasked iron in architecture for example) were also used. Common in art nouveau are lavish birds and flowers, insects and polyformic femme fatale. Abstract lines and shapes are used widely as a filling for recognizable subject matter. Purposeful elimination of three-dimensions is often applied through reduced shading. Art Nouveau artefacts my be beautiful art pieces but commonly fail in function
Important representatives of art nouveau
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt was noticed for his decoration design (with his brother friend F. Matsch) for numerous theatres and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where he finished the work begun by Makart. Klimt was a target of violent criticism, sometimes his work had to be displayed behind screens to censor his work for young eyes. His work is incredibly deceptive. Klimt explored the tension between ecstasy and terror, life and death. At times Klimt’s work was quite erotic.
Klimt's 'Golden Phase' started with a positive critical reaction and success. In this period he used gold leaf. In this era he produced the famous Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) and The Kiss (1907–1908). Klimt travelled to Venice and Ravenna, both famous for their beautiful mosaics, which inspired his gold technique and his Byzantine imagery. He came together with other artists on Palais Stoclet, the home of a wealthy Belgian industrialist, which was a mile stone of the Art Nouveau age. Klimt's helped design the dining room, including both Fulfilment and Expectation, arguably his finest decorative work, As he publicly stated, "probably the ultimate stage of my development of ornament." Between 1907 and 1909, Klimt painted five canvases of society women wrapped in fur. His apparent love of costume is expressed in the many photographs of Flöge modelling clothing he designed.
| Walter Crane started as designer and book illustrator; he focused on children’s books. Born in Liverpool august 1845, he moved to London with his family later in life. After a while he became an apprentice to a famous wood engraver William James Linton and studied drawing in his spare time. He was a great fan of Edward Byrne-Jones. An important part of his development was the study of Japanese colour-prints, the methods of which he imitated in a series of toy-books, which started a new fashion. By 1870 he was an established illustrator of children’s books and a designer of ceramic designer for Wedgewood. By the mid-1870 he began designing wallpapers for Jeffery & Co and tiles for Maw & Co. Many of his paintings were displayed in London Galleries, and a select few were featured in the Royal Academy. In 1881 he befriended William Morris whom shared the same opinion on modern manufacturing and the commercial system of craftsmanship, they hated the effects, and therefore he helped establish the Arts and Crafts Exhibit Society. Crane continued on to write important books regarding decoration and design including the Decorative Illustration of books in 1896 and line and form in 1900. He died march 1915 | |
Definition, Characteristics, Meaning, Focus of the Movement
There is no definition or meaning of Art Nouveau. However it was characterised as applying artistic designs to everyday objects, in order to make beautiful objects available for all classes. No object was too important to be beautified. Art Nouveau saw no difference in fine art and applied or decorative arts. The style was a reaction to a world of art which was dominated by the precise geometry of neoclassical forms. Art Nouveau remains a vast style of a variety of stylistic interpretations. Some artists used new low-cost materials and mass production. Others used more expensive materials and valued high craftsmanship.
Types of Designs
In line with the Art Nouveau idea that art should become part of everyday life, flat, decorative patterns that could be used in all art forms were introduced. Typical 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. This style typically featured lavish birds, flowers, insects and other zoo morphs, as well as the hair and curvaceous bodies of beautiful women.
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. 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.
Influences
As a movement, Art Nouveau shared certain features with Romanticism, the Pre-Raphaelites, the Symbolists, and the Arts & 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.
Bibliography
Art Nouveau, Design Style: Characteristics, History, Famous Artists: Art Nouveau Architecture, Interior Decoration, Decorative Arts, Posters, Illustration
2011-02-16 17:57:40
16th feb 2011 17:57
Wednesday 8th December 2010
Assignment One
2nd year BA of Interior Design
Lecturer: Maebh O’Regan
By: Ciara Nolan
Palladian is a style derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andreas Palladio (1508-1580). He was an architect from the Italian Renaissance. His designs were the main influence on British Palladianism. He had a Classical style which was based on ancient Roman architecture, which he had previously studied both through books of theory and the surviving buildings. His Four Books of Architecture, first published in 1570, contain illustrations and descriptions of his own architecture, together with Roman buildings that he admired. They were the key means by which his influence spread. Palladio tried to recreate the style and proportions of the buildings of ancient Rome. He was greatly influenced by the writings of Roman architect Vitruvius. Palladio made several assumptions about Roman domestic architecture based on partial remains of classical temples. Palladian style is characterized by grace, understanding decorative elements and the use of classical orders. Palladianisim also features copied designs made popular in Italy by Palladio.
The exterior of Palladian style buildings were plain and based on the rules of proportion. By contrast, the interiors were richly decorated. Palladianisim was most fashionable from 1715 to 1760. Columns with acanthus leaf capitals at the top 'Corinthian' are characteristic of Palladian style. Scallop shells are a typical motif in Greek and Roman art. The shell is a symbol of the Roman goddess Venus, who was born of the sea, from a shell. Pediments were used at the top of doors and windows on the outside of buildings. They were also used inside doors. It is common to find architectural elements in Palladian furniture. Palladian design tends to be very symmetrical. This means that when a line is drawn down the middle it is a mirror image of the other. Symmetry is important in Palladianisim because it was very important to the ancient Greeks and Romans whom inspired the style. Masks are faces used as a motif based on Roman and Greek art common in Palladian interiors. Terms are based on free-standing stones representing the roman god Terminus. They consist of a head and the upper torso, often just the shoulder, on top of a pillar and were originally used as boundary markers. The main rooms, which had slightly higher ceilings, were not on the ground floor, but on the first floor, known as the piano noble floor. This main floor was usually greeted by a grand, impressive staircase. There was usually a large apartment on this floor with a state bedroom and a chamber of state, led by a couple of rooms such as a drawing room and a presence chamber. The library and music room would also often be situated on this floor. The basement floor at the ground-floor level and contained the kitchen, cellars, service rooms and informal living rooms.
The saloon I sketched has many of the main Palladian characteristics. For my celling I designed it with teeth with symmetry. Walls were similarly painted in muted tones like white, stone, drab or olive, as well as in brighter colours like pea green, sky blue, straw, yellow and deep green. Chocolate brown was often used on woodwork. I choose yellow as my wall colour. I furnished the floor with an oriental rug over an ochre flooring. My fireplace features masks on either side for symmetry and boasts a heavily architectural overmantel. I decorated the door to my saloon with a richly decorated pediment on top. I decorated the blanket box on the left of the fireplace with terms on each panel made from ochre. On the picture frame above the mantle I inserted a shell
The style of interior decoration was lavish yet tasteful. Balance and also symmetry were the most important factors of palladianisim, and architectural details such as pediments, ceilings and cornices were such important features to a palladian interior
Palladian Style in brief:
- Interiors are on the grand scale, rich with architectural details.
- Painted ceilings.
- Mahogany doors with brass or gilt bronze door furniture;
- Fabric on walls, velvets, damasks, flock, and wallpaper was very fashionable. By the 1770s, in Britain the architects Robert Adam and Sir William Chambers were in very popular demand, but they were now inspired on a great variety of classical sources, including ancient Greece, so much so that their forms of architecture were eventually defined as neoclassical rather than Palladian. The Palladian revival in Europe ended by the end of the 18th century. In North America, Palladianism kept in fashion for a longer period Thomas Jefferson's floor plans and elevations owe a great deal to Palladio's Quattro Libri. The term "Palladian" today is often misused, and tends to describe a building with any classical pretensions.
Bibliography:
Type: webpage
Title: The White House in Washington D.C.
Accessed: November 20th 2010 15:31
