Art Nouveau In Europe

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ART NOUVEAU IN EUROPE

The approaching millennium–our own fin de siècle–provides a timely occasion to examine, a century later, the phenomenon of Art Nouveau(1). Comprised of a brilliant and wildly diverse array of designs, the movement dates roughly from 1880 to 1910, yet the nine years, from 1895 to 1904, represent the critical period of important output. It includes a wide spectrum of individual and city-center styles (Glasgow, Brussels, Paris, Nancy, Barcelona, Munich, Darmstadt, Vienna and Prague), ranging from the elongated silhouettes of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School to the stylized floriations of the Paris School and the naturaliste elements found in the School of Nancy–the movement's epicenter–in eastern France.
European Art Nouveau evolved quite differently in numerous countries in the late 19th century with the primary purpose of challenging the established order within the applied and fine arts. One aspect young artists and designers found particularly objectionable was the unwillingness of the official art institutions in many European countries to accommodate exhibitions of the decorative or applied arts. Throughout Europe in the 1880s and '90s artists formed societies in opposition to the ruling institutions. The new groups arranged exhibitions which not only featured modern painting and sculpture but also furniture, ceramics, glassware, metalwork, textiles and jewelry. It is this spirit of revolt which ties together all styles and movements commonly associated with Modernism; it is also the underlying theme of the Norwest collection. From the British Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 1880s to the outbreak of World War II, it was this single purpose that fired a collective imagination and quickly took hold in Europe. The term Modernism applies to those forward-looking architects, designers and craftsmen who managed to escape
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