Art Nouveau and Jugendstil

Art Nouveau gave birth in the 1880’s in France and Belgium. It was concurrent with the Aesthetic movement and was inspired mainly from the Arts and Crafts movement and naturalistic forms. The style was international although it was given different names in various countries.

A prominent designer which had a great influence on this style was Victor Horta, a Belgian architect. He made the Hotel Tassel in Brussels which incorporated glass for the windows for the function of the interior, stone and iron work on the balustrades. In fact, iron work was used for structural purposes and decoration. It reflects the characteristics of Art Nouveau mainly the whiplash curves, naturalistic forms, twisting circular forms which show movement, vegetal motifs and sinuous curved lines.

 Inteior of the Hotel Tassel in Brussels by Victor Horta

There was another popular Belgian designer called Henry Van de Velde who like John Juskin and William Morris, believed that artists are able to reform society with a simple and less commercial way of life. He was inspired from the Arts and Crafts Movement and contributed to the Jugendstil which was another name for Art Nouveau in Germany. In fact, he had moved to Berlin and his designs incorporated less decoration and promoted functionality.

Jugendstil which means Youth Style flourished in the 1890’s and designers like Richard Riemerschmid, Herman Obrist promoted their ideas which were somehow unlike the European Art Nouveau itself. the. Inspiration was also being taken from nature and organic forms. We can also mention works of Herman Obrist or the botanical drawings by Ernest Haeckel which had influenced many designers at the time.

 

From Art Forms in Nature by Ernst Haeckel

From Art Forms in Nature by Ernst Haeckel

In Glasgow, there was a Scottish artist and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who also contributed to this style. He was influenced from geometric forms and Japanese works but focused on simple forms and natural materials rather the pattern and ornamentation. He used symbolism in architecture and contrasted right angles with organic natural forms. There was also Gustav Klimt in Austria who led the Vienna Secession together with Koloman Moser. The style in Austria reflected symbolism, French art Nouveau and fused with the Mackintosch geometric style.

Many schools of Art Nouveau had emerged across Europe in Glasgow, Brussels and others but Germany was affected most. Many workshops had been established such as the Dresden Workshops for Artist Craftsmanship in 1898. Richard Riemerschmid who worked there endorsed the ideas of the Arts and Crafts. There also the Vienna workshops which started in 1903 by Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffman who were influenced by Mackintosh. This organization focused particularly on geometric patterns, simple forms and some decoration. 

Art Nouveau diminished till 1910 and after came the Deutsche Werkbund with reforming ideas and designers who merged new ideas but still kept some previous norms and aspects of design. From my point of view, nowadays we can still see some characteristics of art Nouveau mainly because some interiors such as walls are being decorated with natural forms such as the below examples.

Contemporary interiors with naturalistic forms

References

University of Glasgow, 2014. Mackintosh Architecture Context, Making and Meaning. [ONLINE] Available at:< http://www.mackintosh-architecture.gla.ac.uk/.> [Accessed 18 January 2015].

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015. Wiener Werkstatte | Austrian enterprise for crafts and design. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1388614/Wiener-Werkstatte.> [Accessed 18 January 2015].

The Art Story, 2014. Art Nouveau Movement, Artists and Major Works. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.theartstory.org/movement-art-nouveau.htm.> [Accessed 18 January 2015].

Strange Science, 2015. Rocky Road: Ernst Haeckel. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.strangescience.net/haeckel.htm.> [Accessed 18 January 2015].

Fiell, C. and Fiell, P. (1999). Design of the 20th century. Ko¨ln: Taschen.