This critical survey of the Art Nouveau movement reveals the diversity of this style across the breadth of the European continent. With the inclusion of Eastern Europe and the full range of artistic media, the book shows how this movement changed the face of European art and design from Paris to Prague. Clearly structured by country, it traces the emergence of Art Nouveau, highlighting the particular interpretations of the style in each country. Countries covered include: Belgium; Spain; Britain; Austria; Hungary; and Russia. Each chapter contains sections on political and cultural contexts, specific visual characteristics and key artists and designers. It analyzes the contribution of both well-known artists and designers such as Gaudi; Van de Velde; Mackintosh; and Mucha, and brings to light many others whose contributions have been largely inaccessible. With a bibliography and glossary, this text should provide a useful introduction to this subject.

DIVAbsorbing, exceptionally detailed study examines early trends, posters, and book illustrations, stylistic influences in architecture; furniture, jewelry, and other applied arts; plus perceptive discussions of artists associated with the movement. /div

The result of years of research, this epic volume shows the global reach of the Art Nouveau idiom Modernismo, Jugendstil or Art Nouveau--the different names given to Art Nouveau in different geographical contexts highlight the territorial scope and diversity of the style, but also its common features: it was new, modern, young and groundbreaking. Whether in Austria, Spain, Denmark or Russia, Art Nouveau defined itself as something that opposed tradition and broke with the past. Rejecting a classicizing academic grammar, and reaching deep into the fantastical for inspiration (from the imagined history of the medieval to the Orientalist exotic), artists and architects such as Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, Viollet-le-Duc, William Morris, Otto Wagner, Samuel Bing and the Goncourt brothers created a new style with a holistic vision, embracing architecture, painting, graphic art, interior design, textiles, ceramics and metalwork. Imaginative form was matched by innovative building techniques. The architects of Art Nouveau were some of the first to experiment with building with iron, glass, pottery and prefabricated concrete; their buildings offer instructive models of industrial development and collaborative design. Beautifully illustrated and exhaustively researched, The World Atlas of Art Nouveau Architecture brings together a selection of key Art Nouveau buildings in a truly global survey that includes, for the first time, examples of the style outside of Europe. Exemplars of the form were chosen through a rigorous selection process involving a panel of expert advisors with specialist input from each world region. A general introduction to the style grounds the selection, and short essays explain how Art Nouveau differed in different cities and countries. The World Atlas of Art Nouveau Architecture honors one of the world's first truly global modern art movements.

A revolutionary reaction to traditional nineteenth-century art, the turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau movement drew much of its inspiration from nature. Applying its sinuous, curvilinear motifs to the decorative arts, graphics, architecture, sculpture, and painting, artists and craftspeople attempted to create a style suitable for a "modern" age. In this absorbing, exceptionally detailed, and well-researched book (one of the first scholarly works to revive interest in the style after World War II), a noted Norwegian authority on the subject examines the movement in depth. Stephan Madsen offers a wealth of facts and insights about the origins and development of the style; trends leading up to Art Nouveau, including the influence of Blake and the Pre-Raphaelites; early Art Nouveau posters and book illustrations; and its use in architectural ornamentation, furniture, jewelry, wrought-iron, glass, and other applied arts. A magnificent selection of 264 photographs and line drawings accompanies the text, which gives broad coverage to the movement, as well as insightful discussions of such important artists as Emile Gallé, Alphonse Mucha, Walter Crane, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Aubrey Beardsley, Henry Van de Velde, Victor Horta, William Morris, and Eugène Grasset. Artists and students, admirers of Art Nouveau, and anyone interested in this enduring and influential style will welcome Professor Madsen's expert, fully documented study.

Winner, 1990 Berkshire Conference Book Award Art Nouveau in Fin-de-Siecle France: Politics, Psychology, and Style explores the shift in the locus of modernity from technological monument to private interior. It examines the political, economic, social, intellectual and artistic factors, specific to late 19th century France, that interacted in the development of art nouveau.

Buenos Aries boasts a number of impressive buildings in a range of architectural styles. But when Anat Meidan, an art collector with a passion for La Belle Époque, moved to the city, she was delighted to discover how much of the city's Art Nouveau architecture from the early 20th century had survived. The author set about researching these extraordinary buildings as well as the people who designed and built them. Working with Gustavo Sosa Pinilla, Meidan toured the city and documented its architecture, using a few well-placed connections to gain access to the interiors of private homes and buildings usually closed to the general public. In this meticulously researched, richly illustrated book, featuring hundreds of splendid photographs, the reader is invited to share the author's voyage around the city as she narrates a very personal account of her love affair with Buenos Aires.