ART NOUVEAU

An individual and highly romantic reaction to the currents of eclecti­cism and academic classicism (Ecole des Beaux-Arts in late 19th century architecture) Art Nouveau was a diverse phenomenon which affected most of Europe and, some historians argue, even North America between 1890 and 1910. It was known at the time under a variety of rubrics — for instance, in England it was the "modern style", in Germany it was called the Ju-gendstil, in France it was known variously as the "style nouille" (noodle style), "style Guimard" (after Henry Guimard, who designed the decora­tive entrance to the Paris Metro Stations in 1899), or Art Nouveau. The Austrians named it Secessionsstil; in Italy it was the "stile Liberty" or "stile floreale", and in Spain "modernisme".

Often referred to simply as the style 1900, Art Nouveau expresses an essentially decorative trend that aims to highlight the ornamental value of the curved line, which may be floral in origin (Belgium, France) or geo­metric (Scotland, Austria). This line gives rise to two-dimensional, slender, undulating and invariably asymmetrical forms. The applied arts were the first to be affected (textiles by William Morris, 1880; wood-engraved title page to Wren's City Churches by Arthur H. Mackmurdo, 1883; vases by Emile Galle, 1884; ornamental lettering by Fernand Khnopff and Georges Lem- men, 1890-1; mural tapestry The Angels' Vigil by Henry van deVelde; 1893; furniture by de Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, 1891).

Among the most characteristic architectural products of Art Nouveau, widely differing in purpose and plastic expression, were: the houses built by Paul Hankar in Brussels (1893—1900); works of Willem Kromhout (1864-1940), Th. Sluyterman (1863-1931) and L. A. H. Wolf in the Netherlands; Guimard's Castel Beranger (1897—1898), entrances to Metro stations and the auditorium of the Humbert de Romans building (1902, destroyed) in Paris; Horta's Maison du Peuple (1896—1899, destroyed) and the former Hotel Solvay (1895—1900) in Brussels.

In Russia Art Nouveau is represented in the works of F. Shekhtel, (S. Ryabushinsky's Mansion (1900), the building for the newspaper "Utro Rossii" (Moscow, 1907).

All these works are the result of an attempt to put an end to imitations of past styles; in its place is offered a florid type of architecture, which ex­ploits craft skills, using coloured materials (faience cabochons, stoneware, terracotta panels, stained glass), exotic veneers, moulded stonework, grilles, balconies, and tapered brackets in wrought iron; and burgeoning with asym­metrical door — and window-frames, bow and horseshoe windows, etc.

In the later phases of Art Nouveau, facade decoration was accompa­nied by a powerful plastic treatment of the whole building, either by the dramatic accentuation of individual parts of the structure (Glasgow Art School, 1898-1909, by Mackintosh) or by the sculptural modelling of the whole building mass (Werkbundtheater, Cologne, 1914 by van de Velde; Casa Mila, Barcelona, 1905—1910, by Gaudi).

Art Nouveau was first and foremost an aesthetic undertaking, based on social theories and inspired by aesthetes such as Ruskin, Morris and Oscar Wilde. It was born of a reaction to the rise of industrialism.

Distinguished architects of the Art Nouveau style, such as Mackintosh, Behrens and the Viennese masters became pioneers of modern architec­ture, it is true, but with their forward-looking buildings they overstepped the frontiers which the style had imposed upon its adherents.

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