Metro entrances emerged as a popular expression of Art Nouveau style.
Types of Art Nouveau works fall into numerous stylistic categories. A vital movement in the history of art, examples of the Art Nouveau architectural style exists in many European and American buildings. Because this movement penetrated all areas of design, numerous examples of Art Nouveau style survive in print publications, fine art and household objects in museum and private collections around the world.
Development of Art Nouveau Styles
The French term "art nouveau" translates to "new art" in English. As its name implies, this style represents a thoroughly modern and radical approach to art at the close of the 19th and start of the 20th century. A predominantly European movement at its inception, this style exerted a lasting, global impact. Reactions to the cold, mechanical landscape of the Industrial Revolution and the rigid classical styles embraced by art academies gave birth to the art nouveau movement. It celebrates organic lines, feminine forms and a general return to nature as the inspiration for art.
Jugendstil
"Jugendstil" refers to the German and Austrian arm of the art nouveau movement. Meaning literally, "style of the youth," this brand of art nouveau borrowed its name from a revolutionary late-nineteenth-century magazine. Georg Hirth's "Die Jugend" (the German word for "youth") aimed to unseat stale academic traditions by appealing to Germany's young artists. This style produced some of the most defining contributions to the art nouveau style, including the architecture, design and furniture of Henry Van de Velde.
Sezessionstil
Alternately called the "Vienna Secession," this art nouveau movement centered on a group of Austrian artists who protested the mass production of the industrial era. This controversial group became the object of social scorn for their use of non-academic approaches to art and their preference for erotic subject matter. Contrasting against the curvilinear, floral design of traditional art nouveau expression, Sezessionstil contributions diversified the movement with bold, geometric forms. The leading guard of this style included painter Gustave Klimt and architect Kolomon Moser.
Tiffany Style
The American designer Louis Comfort Tiffany interpreted the European art nouveau into a brilliant new expression. His glass works drew inspiration from the intricate floral motifs of art nouveau. Their curving, organic forms derived from close observation of nature, including numerous species of plants and insects. Tiffany developed new technology for glass art. His stained glass windows, lamps and decorative objects stemmed from Japanese and medieval models. Tiffany style lamps live on in popularity today and represent one of the most definitive American art forms of the early 20th century.
