The German Youth Movement and The Vienna Secession

Art Nouveau in Germany was expressed in the ‘youth style’ or Jugendstil. In Austria the Vienna Secession group of artists and designers created a form of Art Nouveau. The Vienna Secession group of creative individuals had a great impact on what we call modern design.

It always amazes me (I know it shouldn’t) how even during difficult times the kindness, care and provision of God shines through.

‘I believe in the sun 
even when it isn’t shinning

I believe in love even when I cannot feel it

I believe in God even when he is silent’

Written on the wall by a Jewish prisoner in Cologne

Art Nouveau in Germany
In Germany the best example of Art Nouveau was August Endell’s ‘Atelier Elivra’ built in 1896. The façade was asymmetrical, the windows and door openings rectangular with curving corners. The building was decorated with a bas relief of curing lines giving a wave like appearance.

In Munich the German Art Nouveau developed as the ‘youth style’ or Jugendstil. In 1899 Richard Riemerschmidt designed a music room for the Dresden exhibition. He designed furniture, lighting and wall decoration. One of his chairs from this time has become a ‘classic’ and influenced modern design.

For the Paris exhibition in the same year he worked with Bernhard Pankok to create a dining room. Pankok also designed a smoking room. He lined the room with carved timber shapes creating what was called by some a Jugendstil fantasy world.

Another designer working in the Jugendstil style was Peter Behrens. The interiors of his home Darmstadt built in 1901 are an example of his work. Peter also designed electric fans, kettles and other products for the German electrical industry in a more reserved modern style.

The Vienna Secession
A group of artists and designers in Austria become known as the Vienna Secession. In 1897 they withdrew from the Vienna Academy in protest because the Academy would not accept modernist works. Gustav Klimt the painter headed up the group.

Joseph Oldrich created a design based on natural forms for the decorative detail of the Secession Gallery in 1897. There were hints of classicism in the symmetrical rectangular building. The arched ceiling had skylights and flowing Art Nouveau motifs decorated the walls. Oldrich also designed the Villa Friedmann.

Another architect involved in the Secession style was Josef Hoffmann. His later works became more rectangular. The Puckerdorf Sanatorium built in 1903-6 has white walls. The interior are simple with patterned tiled floors in black and white. The furniture is inclined to be of in straight lined modern style. His most famous work built in 1905-11 is the Palasis Stoclet found in Brussels.

The building is asymmetrical with sculpture placed on the large tower. Interior walls are thin marble sheets edged with gilding. Klimt created large murals for the dining room.

Adolf Loos was involved with the group but became concerned with what he thought was a superficial decorative slant in the movement. His work includes bentwood furniture for Thonet.

He also worked with the glassware firm Lobmeyr. His Steiner House built in 1910 was very austere with white block like walls with scattered windows.

The work produced by the Vienna Secession tended to be simple and geometric in form; craft orientated with the result it has had a greater impact on modern design than the other forms of Art Nouveau developed in France and Belgium.

Was Gaudi gaudy?

The Spanish architect and designer Antoni Gaudi was considered gaudy by some. Yet others found his work inspiring and individualist. He was an architect and designer. Gaudi expressed himself in stained glass, ceramics, wrought iron and furniture as well as architecture.

Antoni was interested in tonal values as much as colour. He used natural forms; sinuous and plant like. He would use clay or plaster to model his design ideas in 3D sculptures. 

Gaudi designed apartment blocks, churches and parks. He was influenced by the Art and Craft movement, Viollet le Duc and from his own desire to design without artistic reference. His Casa Batllo 1904-1906 brief was for the apartment to be refaced and refurbished. 

He created interiors with undulating ceilings unusually shaped windows and door frames. The furniture he designed was biomorphic and carved in solid oak. Panel doors were studded with small mirrors.

The Casa Mila a six story apartment block was begun in 1905. The exterior made of rippled cement was created around open courtyards. Balconies have iron railings and the chimneys and air vents are sculpture like structures. He also designed the furniture.  

   

Gaudi considered aspect and ergonomic principles important. He used bits of rubble, bricks, shade of pottery, paint and whitewash to create unique work. He also used the advanced technologies of the industrial age. This is how many Art Nouveau designers differ from the Art and Craft movement designers. He stated:

‘Those who look for the laws of nature 

as a support for their new work 

collaborate with the creator’ 

Art Nouveau was originally a term used for the French and Belgium designs of the early 20^th century. It was only later the term was extended to include work like Gaudi’s. It has become the term used for design created in nontraditional naturalistic styles in many countries during this era.

               

Horta, Van de Velde, Bauhaus, & Bing

It is often suggested Art Nouveau first appeared in France and Belgium. This is mainly considered the case due to the work of the great architect Victor Horta and the designer Van de Velde both from Belgium. Their work first appeared in Belgium; townhouses featured elegantly twining wrought-iron staircases, balconies, and gates.

Velde moved to Paris and designed a shop for Samuel Bing. The La Maison de l'Art Nouveau shop would give its name to the Art Nouveau movement. Velde designed everything in his own house down to the table silver and cookware.

He was inspired by English Arts and Craft design and established a bridge between the two. He moved to Berlin and designed the Art School in 1904-11. This school would eventually become the world leading Bauhaus.

Victor Horta designed furniture, light fittings, stain glass panels, door and window frames and hardware. One of his most famous buildings the Tassel House (hotel) was built in 1892. He used flowing curves in the steps and iron railings of the stair way. He painted or stenciled mute coloured patterns on the walls and ceiling. The metal columns were slim, hanging light fittings with shades in curved flower like shapes and the floor was mosaic placed in an S curved flowing pattern.

Horta’s own house is now the Horta Museum. He used white tiles on the walls and ceiling in a brick like fashion. Timbers built in cabinets were created with stained glass inserts. Curved lines dominate the furniture and room.

Horta used a centralized floor plan instead of the usual corridor design of the era. He supervised all the interior decoration and furniture design in all his buildings. The four major town houses he designed Hotel Tassel, Hotel Solvay, Hotel van Eetvelde and the Maison & Atelier are located in Brussels. In 2000 the buildings were listed as World Heritage.

Victor Horta used

· Iron railings in curved lines

· Stenciled walls and ceilings

· Mosaic floor tiles

· Irregular shapes

· Exposed cast iron structurally

· A centralised floor plan

· Glass and iron facades

· Asymmetrical balance

· White tiles

· Muted colours (olive, mustard, sage, brown gold, salmon…)


France

Hector Guimard is the architect who developed the style in France. He designed the Parisian Metro subway entrances in 1898-1901.

Emile Galle’s glass work, Louis Majorelle’s furniture designs and the posters of the artist Alphonse Mucha are all contributors to the Art Nouveau movement.

Maxim’s Restaurant also had fashionable Art Nouveau interior décor. In 1909 Paris was invaded by the Ballets Russes. They used scenery and costumes in bright primary colours instead of the pastel shades of the era. This influenced the interior decoration of drawings rooms and salons. The rooms become richly textured, with patterned curtains and heaps of cushions in reds, green and orange.

"The artist is nothing without the gift,

but the gift is nothing without work."

Emile Zola (1840-1902)

Just a Wee Bit Of Art Deco in the Middle of Art Nouveau

When I have finished writing the series on Art Nouveau I will move onto a series of blogs on the Art Deco style. I interrupted this series because I have already written and published an article called ‘How 2 Create a Jazzy Art Deco Bedroom’ and I would like to show some examples of Art Deco schemes I have created on Sample Board Online.

So for those of you who may have clicked the link to this blog here are a few examples to keep you going until I complete the series on Art Nouveau. The sample boards were very quickly and easily created on the SBO site

I invite you to revisit the blog and follow the blogs on Art Deco. There is a suggestion by some; the Art Deco style will be coming back into vogue. I must admit after spending time looking at the splendor of both these styles I am tempted to redecorate in either the Art Nouveau or Art Deco style with a modern twist. But I have to constrain myself we plan to move in the next few years. Then I can let myself loose and create a totally different home.

If you would like to read the article here's the link http://www.articlesbase.com/interior-design-articles/how-2-create-a-jazzy-art-deco-bedroom-in-6-easy-steps-2315727.html

 

Winston Churchill stated

“We shape our dwellings. Afterwards our dwellings shape us”

Pre-Raphaelites and Art Nouveau

The actual term Art Nouveau is derived from a shop opened by Siefried Bing in Paris in 1896. The shop was called La Maison de l’Art. Yet a hint of the style can be found in the work of William Blake and William Morris. Art Nouveau advocates aimed to create a completely new style with no reference or influence from past styles. Architects were reacting against the drabness of neoclassic and imperial architecture. Art Nouveau was a vital force changing the face of architecture across the Western world.

England

The Pre-Raphaelites are thought to have influenced the Art Nouveau movement. The group made up of Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti was met with critical hostility in Victorian England.

Edward Burne – Jones used medieval models but treated them with a fresh and modern look. The subject matter used was legends, myths and spiritual stories. He broke away from the normal size canvas sizes. Creating works on long horizontal and tall narrow canvases. His compositions were made up of exaggerated dreamy, linear graceful figures. Form was more important to him than colour. He also produced art glass windows and tapestries for the Morris & Co company.

Ford Manox Brown’s paintings are now in high demand. His work was original in British art during his life time and was largely ignored. He used brilliant colour on white backgrounds, naturalistic detail and contemporary subject matter.

Millais painted what is often considered the most important Pre-Raphaelite work ‘Ophelia’. He painted on a white background; flowers, plants and Ophelia floating down the river in precise detail.

Rossetti was torn between his two loves poetry and painting. He paintings were informed and inspired by his favorite authors especially Dante. He worked mostly in water colours developing his own technique ending up with images that looked like art glass work.




The first example of the style outside of painting in England was a chair design by Arthur Mackmurdo in 1882. You can find images of this chair at http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary_02.aspx?id=5660.

Arthur Liberty also used art nouveau designs in his fabrics. An example of liberty fabrics can be found at http://www.historicstyle.com/artnouveau/fabrics/full/ianthe_lin_det.html.  Charles Ashbee also had an influence on English design at this time. The impact of the wonderful flowing illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley can be seen in Art Nouveau design. The new magazine ‘The Studio’ founded in 1893 helped popularize the style in Europe.


You may ask why this is all important. I agree with Goethe who stated:

‘It is impossible to understand

the present

without knowing the past’

Is It Art Nouveau or Art Deco?

When I first studied interior design I would constantly muddled up Art Nouveau and Art Deco. I did this until I reminded myself Art Nouveau means new art came first in the late 1800’s and lasted for about three decades. Art Deco was the style of the 1920’s and 1930’s. So I thought I would spend the next few blogs looking at both styles. 

All this came to mind while I passing the wonderful shop Passion for Design. They specialise in Art Nouveau and Art Deco decorative pieces. 

The most common Art Nouveau motif was peacock feathers. Patterns included abstracted insect wings, bird feathers, shells, vines, flowers and S curves. The hallmark of the style the curved undulating lines known as whiplash lines and plant like forms.

Motifs and Patterns

·         Peacock feathers

·         Insect wings

·         Bird feathers

·         Shells

·         Vines

·         Flowers

·         S curves

Colours were muted and varied. Violet (purple) and yellow were popular. Natural vegetable dyes were used in wallpaper, chintzes and other materials. Art Nouveau has primary a decorative style. The Japanese print influence was also a feature of this style.

 

A series of movements brought unity of painting, sculpture and architecture for the first time. The Art Nouveau influenced every art form including, poster, advertising, jewelry, ceramics, glassware, silver, lamps and clothing fashions. And of course interior design/decorating and architecture. 

     

 

The Art Nouveau style was unsuited to mass production and it to decline by 1910. However the style was important; it redefined conventional style mainly in architecture creating relationships between industry and art. This helped pave the way for modern architecture and art.