Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

                The underlying forces behind Art Noveau can be narrowed down to a few basic concepts.  The first, the one that most people immediately notice, the flowing organic form.  This imitation of nature was definitely vital to the success of this period.  Not only did many pieces possess this organic form, but it also served a purpose.  It must not only be for ornamentation, but also be absolutely necessary to holding the piece together, many times even structurally.  The third and final thing was clearly an obsession.  All of these artists took this new concept and ran with it.  They designed everything from the structure, to the ornamentation on the wall, to the clothes people would wear in these spaces.  Hector Guimard, Victor Horta, and Henry Van der Velde were three influential people of this time and were under the influence of Art Nouveau at it’s peak.

Hector Guimard:

                Hector Guimard was one who took France by storm with this movement.  He had a serious commitment to the ideology of Viollet le Duc.  He “integrated the new decorative principles into a coherent architectural style”1.  Guimard was provided with the opportunity to design the School of Sacre Coeur in Paris and the Maison Coilliot in Lille.  The illustrations alone from these buildings inspired many architects and designers to incorporate these ideas into their own work.  Guimard  found it necessary to carry the analogy between metal structure and plant form further than any other architect of his time.  

Victor Horta

                Architecture was a passion of Victor Horta in which he received Beaux-Arts training.  With this training, he mixed a neoclassical style with Viollet-le-Duc’s rationalism and constructed a series of houses throughout Belgium.  He received many commissions from domestic clients who shared his socialist views.  Some describe his style as a “whiplash style in France and abroad. [By] rejecting historical styles and embracing new materials, Horta laid the foundations for modern architecture.”2

Henry Van der Velde

                Henry Van der Velde’s influence on this time period could not have been accomplished without Willy Finch.  In 1982, these two created a decorative art movement that paid it’s respects to the English Arts and Crafts Society through their painter’s group, Les XX.  After awhile of work, they slowly became less associated with the industrial arts and were more recognized along the fine arts.  Through this experience, Van der Velde had the opportunity to present a series of lectures.  These lectures were published under Deblaiement d’Art meaning The Purification of Art. This zealous doctrinaire allowed him to express the joy he found in his work and influenced the overall movement. Like many involved in this movement, Van der Velde designed everything from chairs to entire buildings. 

1.       Colquhoun. Modern Architecture.

2.       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Horta