Styles for Starters______________________________________

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Overview
Graphic Design
01// Posters
02// Book Design
03// Packaging
Painting
Objects
01// Jewelry
02// Glass
03// Furniture
Architecture

Art Nouveau is a style which has its influences outside Western civilisation as well as outside the 19th Century where it came to being. It is of an experimental character, a mixture of medieval, baroque, oriental and classical elements, in parts strongly influenced by japanese art, wanting to express the break with traditional forms, on one hand reflecting the spirit of the Belle Epoque and influencing it at the same time.

Characteristic for Art Nouveau is the absence of any straight line and any right angle. The lines seem to bend infinitely, the forms swell and contract. It is nature serving as the model: Being a decorative art by origin, the artists preferred ornamental structures imitating flowers and leaves. Most works of the Art Nouveau resemble living organisms. The curved vegetable lines create an impression of lightness and charm.

Many artists of the Art Nouveau period used these curved forms of vegetation: The most favourite flowers were the lily, the iris and the orchid, but they also used oriental subjects such as palm branches, papyrus, seaweed. Animals were stylistically represented too, especially insects and birds abounding in colours: dragonflies, peacocks, swallows, swans. Moreover, the artists appreciated the female body as a decorative element, especially with long open hair, flowing in long and soft waves.

The basic elements of Art Nouveau are colour, contour, tglass and light, for interior decoration additionally soft wood of honey colour, in architecture iron. The combination of these elements creates an effect of fantasy, lightness, even instability. This new style, sometimes exaggerated, excessive, was the vivid contrast to the works of the much decorated, yet gloomy and ponderous preceding era.

Art Nouveau is a term in history of art covering about 30 years; it begins around 1880 and ends around 1914 when Art Nouveau was so commercialized that the new century claimed for another form of aesthetic expression. A reason for the popularity ofArt Nouveau is also its modernism like the term Art Nouveau (New Art) expresses. Besides Germany, most countries and languages use this term for this art style. The German term Jugendstil (style of the youth) comes from the Munich magazine "Die Jugend" (The Youth). The term Art Nouveau comes from the Parisian art shop "La Maison de l'Art Nouveau" (The House of the New Art) of Samuel Bing. Well known is also the Italian term Stilo Libero which comes from the English term Style Liberty, the name of a London department store which was not only constructed in the new style but where also expositions of modern art regularly took place. In Central Europe the style came to be known as The Secession, where although thr overall feel of the era was maintained, design was more angular and geometricised.

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Graphic Design
The curvilenear, ornate, heavily Japanese as well as Medieval Europe influenced Art Nouveau style produced remarkable works in Graphic Design. Particularly noteworthy is the poster work of the Czech designer Alphonse Mucha. Other important designers of the period are the Secessionist Koloman Moser, French poster artists Jules Cheret and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and alhough strictly speaking a member of the Arts and Crafts movement, that shortly preceded Art Nouveau in England, William Morriss, with his incredible medievally inspired book designs.

Keywords for Graphic Design
01// Curvilenear (except for Secessionist design).
02// Contoured
03// Flat Colours as well as Gradients
04// Heavily Ornamental
05// Frames and Borders
06// Boxing and compartmentalisation of type as well as visual elements as separate areas This was a very effective way of compensating for the lack of negative space in Art Nouveau design, since the compartmentalisation set up hierachies and directional guides of a different nature.

3 examples of Secessionist Posters. Note that the curvilenearity is no longer as prominent although the contouring and usage of solid colours remains the same. Left: Anonymous Poster. Middle: Central European Secession. Right: Koloman Moser.

Three pages from books designed by William Morriss, at his world renowned Kelmscott Press. Note the strong medieval influences.

Painting
You cannot possibly have an Art Nouveau reference page without any mention of Gustave Klimt; so here is the master of Secession painting:

Objects
The objects d'art that Art Nouveau designers and craftsmen created cannot possibly be done any justice to here. What follows is only a very modest sampling of decorative glass objects, jewelry and furniture - just to whet your appetite and no more...