Art nouveau was a style of international scope and eclectic vitality that resulted from attempts to find an art appropriate for the modern world. Its earliest works appeared in the 1890s. Art nouveau triumphed at the 1900 Paris World's Fair, becoming the style of the age.

Art Nouveau

A critic at the beginning of the nineteenth century complained about the term art nouveau, pointing out that every style was "nouveau" (new) in the beginning. But in fact it was art nouveau's newness -- or more exactly its modernity -- that defined it. This surprises us today. We associate art nouveau most immediately with the whiplash curve and fin-de-siècle decadence. We associate it with the decorative, and the decorative arts, and these are not what come to mind when we hear the word "modernity." We think instead of the spare lines and functional rationality of the Bauhaus -- of form following function, of buildings without ornament. But for designers and those who bought their products, art nouveau meant "modern."

Although we usually call the style "art nouveau" in English, it has a wealth of other names: in Germany it was Jugendstil, in Austria Sezessionstil, in Catalonia the Modernista movement, and in Italy stile Liberty (after the London retailer). Even this incomplete list suggests two things: international scope and great variety. It should be said at the outset that art nouveau is not defined simply by the way it looks. It embraced both sweeping organic forms and controlled geometric ones, and although it was largely driven by the decorative arts, its impact was felt in painting and architecture as well.

Credits

This teaching program was developed in connection with the exhibition Art Nouveau, 1890-1914, on view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington--through 28 January 2001.

This text is based in large measure on the exhibition catalogue and information supplied by the exhibition curator, Paul Greenhalgh. Sincere thanks go to him and to the education staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum for giving so generously of their time and ideas. Images and photographic permissions were handled by Leo Kasun at the National Gallery of Art. Teaching activities were suggested by members of the National Gallery of Art education division. The booklet was written by Carla McKinney Brenner, edited by Tam Curry Bryfogle, and designed for the Web by Guillermo Saenz.