Art Nouveau (Art & Ideas) - Softcover

Escritt, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714838225 ISBN 13: 9780714838229

Publisher: Phaidon, 2000

Synopsis

A study of Europe and America's boldest and most fashionable style.

About this title

Review:

"A lucid and concise overview, well organized and well written."― Times Literary Supplement

On the Art & Ideas series

"Art & Ideas has broken new ground in making accessible authoritative views on periods, movements and concepts in art. As a series it represents a real advance in publishing."―Sir Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate London

"The format is wonderful and offers what had long been missing in academic studies: usable manuals for specific themes or periods... I am definitely not alone in welcoming Art & Ideas as a precious set of teaching tools."―Joachim Pissarro, Yale University

"Phaidon's series may prove to be the pick of the crop. It boasts expert but undogmatic texts and a wealth of illustrations."―The Sunday Telegraph

From the Back Cover:

At the turn of the nineteenth century, Art Nouveau was both Europe and America's boldest and most fashionable style. It could be seen in the sinuous ironwork of the new Paris Metro stations, the curving asymmetry of Lalique's jewellery and Tiffany's Japanese-inspired glassware. Art Nouveau brought a new decorative language to textile design, furniture, jewellery and graphic arts, as well as architecture, sculpture and painting. Known by a variety of names -- Jugendstil in Germany, Secession in Austria, the Modernista movement in Catalonia -- it was a truly international 'new art' for a new age.

In this comprehensive and lucid book, Stephen Escritt defines Art Nouveau broadly, analysing the work of such diverse designers as Victor Horta in Belgium, Emile Galle in France, Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow and Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona. He argues that Art Nouveau was evolutionary, drawing on a range of sources including the French Neo-rococo, the English Arts and Crafts Movement and Symbolism, as well as revolutionary, exploring the inherent possibilities of steel and glass and the functionalism that was to be taken up by the Modern Movement. This is the first book to examine Art Nouveau worldwide in the context of the issues of the age, from fin-de-siecle anxieties about the pressures of modern life to nationalism, spiritualism, the emancipation of women and the heroic cult of youth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Phaidon
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0714838225
• ISBN 13: 9780714838229
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 450