Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was an ornamental style that emerged between 1880 and 1910. It was popular all around the world but under completely different names. In Germany, for example, it was known as Jugendstil while in Italy it was known as Stil Liberte after the British Department Store, Liberty and Co. which was directly responsible for introducing this style in the country.

Just like the name, the different aspects of this style varied in each country. In Belgium, Victor Horta's Hotel Tassel finished in 1893 was a prime example of the style using the instantly recognizable whiplash curves. Here, Horta used ironwork both as a structural material as well as part of the interior's ornamentation. While, later on, in Scotland Charles Rennie Mackintosh focused on more geometric forms.

Hotel Tassel, Belgium - Victor Horta 

You could say that Mackintosh was already looking forward to what would become known as Art Deco.

Willow Chair - C.R. Mackintosh  

The two major influences of this movement were the pure organic forms of nature and the more emphasized geometric forms inspired by Japanese Wood-block prints, as well as the British Arts and Crafts movement which had started in England 30 years earlier. Since it was the first major movement to incorporate naturalistic forms rather than historical, Art Nouveau can technically be considered as the birth of Modernism.

The inspiration from nature mainly came from progress through scientific research in the botanic field which had been done a few years before, namely the botanical illustrations of Ernst Haeckel and the photographic flower studies of Karl Blossfeldt

Ernst Haeckel botanical illustration       

Karl Blossfeldt 

                                 
REFERENCES:
Thomas Hauffe, 2001. Design: From the Industrial Revolution to the 21st Century (Flipguides). Edition. Dumont Monte.

Charlotte & Peter Fiell, 2012. Design of the 20th Century (25). Edition. Taschen.

Victor Horta, (1893), Interior of Hotel Tassel [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.stylepark.com/db-images/cms/article/img/l1_v334404_958_600_760-10.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, (1903), Willow Chair [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.desmol.com/images/product_images/original_images/1ch.r.m._410.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

Ernst Haeckel, (1884), Botanical Illustration [ONLINE]. Available at: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/0d/52/cc/0d52cce2090bac2bc23703f5f8c3921e.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

Karl Blossfeldt, (1888), Flower Study [ONLINE]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAVAr5u4DVPK8eBz4QvW0NAXoeIzjTG56Krh1MGBIoUicT1DSB6wFfNdgSp4vF79hGDr0j8vqiJ-yE-DhaBbOGWcE-jLy-m1aD_Y0gIa3bTVIt-wUdPKuxKN96iY183eWVtiy4k-kBoQ/s1600/karl-blossfeldt-plant-portraits-aspidium-filixmas-common-male-fern-young-unfurling-fronds-4x.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].