Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was a new style that begin in the early 1890's. Art Nouveau was not only in architecture but also in product and art where designers always looked towards the future but in the manner of soft flowing lines that make the design itself elegant. As for the world was getting modernised in those early years of the twentieth century, designers and architects wanted their stuff created and modern as possible so the people will admire their work more. We now recognize it as the style of the age. As for Art Nouveau their was some kind of a rule, nature had to be included whether it is water, animals, plants or flowers. They had a theme to stick with. By time it spread almost all over Europe and almost all parts of the North America.

The Interior of Tassel House

This is one of the first Art Nouveau buildings it was made in the early 1890's by Victoria Horta, the Tassel House, this was made specific for scientists. One can see that there is no need for a special investigation on what style it was. As from the floor, walls, columns, stairs, every corner of the house is full with the style of Nouveau. This can be tell for the elegant, well designed floor tiles, the paint on the walls, the metal work even on stone with all those soft flowing lines all over inspired from plants and flowers.

 Decanter

This decanter was designed by an English designer C.R Ashbee she did a large number of decanter but this was inspired by the Art Nouveau era. As it has that green glass finished look it has more to do with the handle were it has the same movement as the curve lines of the interior of the Tassel House.

"The French were more influenced by the symbolism of the style . They viewed art as a mean of discovering the soul, the parts of existence which modern materialism appeared to have left behind." (Paul Greenhalgh. (Year 2000) Essential Art Nouveau)

Divan Japonais

Divan Japonais was one of the many cafe-concerts in the late nineteenth century Paris frequented by Toulouse Lautrec. In his poster features two of his favourite Montmartre stars. Here the designer made up a poster for advertising of the cafe-concert. It was a new thing of symbolising and attract the people to the poster and the concert itself. He used mostly earth colours even the outlines are not sharp edged. He also depicted the commercial quite well because one can understand what is happening in the picture without even reading the description.

In that period designers use to steal imagery outside their country in this case, Europe. They would do this to keep the customers amazed and keep producing better and different products, such as the Islamic and Japanese art and culture. The curling, linear shape known as the ‘arabesque’ occurred throughout Islamic textiles, given form to ceramics and glass.

This was made by the designer Tiffany and co in 1896. This glass explains everything, the curling, the linear shape, colour that it was inspired by another country. We also can see that this vase is depicting a flower, staying with the theme of nature.

The most important thing to Art Nouveau was nature we can see it almost in everything they painted or designed. Designers did not stick with the most famous natural elements such as water, roses, lilies, lions but they wanted to seek in depth of this theme. "Many designers used metamorphosis as a strategy, fusing animals, plants and human forms. Nature became the major vehicle for the creation of interiors, which were ‘ total works of art’." (Paul Greenhalgh. (Year 2000) Essential Art Nouveau).

The Winged Female

The winged female figure done by Rene Lalique in France. It is a bronze sculpture of a nude woman raised by 'wings' that are more of a strange looking butterfly wings. The wing itself is used for a stand and the nude is attached in a specific position. 

Art Nouveau finished with the start of the First World War. The style was lost and began to be recognised in the 1960’s, many buildings and objects were lost or destroyed. Today Art Nouveau we see it as the style that made modern environment where it not only changed peoples experience but also their expectations of what the new century would bring.

Reference: 

Paul Greenhalgh. (Year 2000) Essential Art Nouveau

Renaissance (The Rebirth)

The rebirth has begun in the 14^th century after the dark ages. As in the birth of the Greeks and Roman art, sculptures, architecture and others that inspired the artists of the Renaissance. They took ideas and studied their work in great detail that transferred them to their art or design, otherwise in a better transformation. This period was the peek of everything such as art, sculpting or architecture they wanted everything not to be good or great but perfect.

 The Parthenon

The Parthenon one of the biggest architecture of the Greek times. Similar a lot to the Pantheon structure in the Roman times where they got inspired from. Another thing is the Mosta dome is commonly and inspired from the Pantheon dome itself, it has the same pattern and how it is build. Everything is inspired from one another.

                                                                                                                              The Pantheon

The Mosta Dome. 

For example in Art the Renaissance learned how to get depth, perspective, realism, light and shadow by learning all this is by looking previous works and looked closely to what it was wrong. In the early period it was still not that good but in the late period they got it perfectly by practicing and looking at other works. They got inspired mostly by the Roman art.

           
                                                         Giotto's work in the St. Francis cathedral

Another example is on architecture where Fillipo Brunelleschi was the architect that had to finish the dome of Florence Cathedral. He achieved his goal and he done it but with the help of understanding other ancient classical buildings by mathematical perspective. 

The dome of Florence Cathedral 

 

As for architecture Renaissance studied the types of Roman columns the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite. These columns were designed to hold large buildings and with a decorative ends. In the Renaissance, architects aimed to use columns to integrate with the structure as the Romans did. On of the first buildings to use pilasters as integrated system was in the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi.

Reference: 

:Gombrich, (2009) The story of Art, E.H.