The Art Nouveau movement influenced a variety of art forms, including paintings, sculpture and literature.
Art Nouveau is a style mainly concerned with the visual arts that first developed in the late 19th century and lasted until about 1914. According to the Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, it can best be described as "ornate, decorative, asymmetrical and somewhat fantastic." Although not in and of itself a particular style of writing, it did influence illustrations of literary works as well as certain literary movements, such as the Pre-Raphaelites and the Symbolists.
Widespread Influence
Art Nouveau was essentially a backlash to the Industrial Revolution. As Paul Greenhalgh and Mari Griffith note, artists associated with the movement "deplored the shoddiness of mass-produced machine-made goods and aimed to elevate the decorative arts to the level of fine art by applying the highest standards of craftsmanship and design to everyday objects." Artists who worked within the movement represent a wide range of different types of art, including architecture, furniture, ceramics, glassware and the fine arts.
Journals
Art Nouveau influenced literature in a variety of ways, not the least of which were the beautifully illustrated books and journals by artists such as Aubrey Beardsley, Charles Ricketts, Laurence Housman, Charles Conder and Thomas Sturge Moore. Many of these artists had their work depicted in the literary magazine "The Yellow Book," which ran from 1894 to 1897. Similar journals included "The Dial" and "The Century Guild Hobby Horse."
Pre-Raphaelites
The Art Nouveau movement was also highly influential on the Pre-Raphaelites. These artists were dedicated to reviving art forms of the medieval and renaissance periods. Official members of this movement were John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, William Michael Rosetti, Thomas Woolner, Frederick George Stephens and James Collinson. These writers utilized sensual images, dense symbolism and archaic language.
Symbolists
Another literary movement influenced by Art Nouveau was the Symbolists. Poets associated with this movement saw the poet as a kind of visionary whose work, through the dense layering of symbols, would reveal a kind of truth. Poets within this movement included Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and W.B. Yeats. The Symbolists in turn influenced the Imagists, a movement which included such luminaries as Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and Rainer Maria Rilke.
