Art Nouveau

The Art Nouveau Style contained:

• sinuous, elongated, curvy lines
• the whiplash line
• vertical lines and height
• stylized flowers, leaves, roots, buds and seedpods
• the female form - in a pre-Raphaelite pose with long, flowing hair
• exotic woods, marquetry, iridescent glass, silver and semi-precious stones

This movement was aimed at producing a modernized design and to go against paintings and sculptures being superior to craft-based decorative arts. Their designs had combined flowing, natural forms with more angular contours. These elegant designs were inspired from both organic and geometric forms.

Their key ideas were as follows:

Desire to abandon the historical styles of the 19th century and establish a modernized art movement.

To revive good workmanship

 Raise the attitude of craft

 Produce genuinely modern design

To establish the new belief of “total works of the arts” were attention was taken to good craftsmanship and overturn the idea of paintings and sculptures being Superior to crafts
The function of an object should dictate its form and not be heavily ornamented.                                                                                                                                                                    Although this movement faded by the time of the first world war ( 1941 – 1918 ) as mass-produced products were seen more then just surface decoration. Here is where they started to focus on shape, form and color of the materials then the tiny detailed decor works.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/period_artnouveau.shtml

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-art-nouveau.htm

http://www.artnouveau-net.eu/Network/ArtNouveau/AboutArtNouveau/tabid/133/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

http://pinterest.com/thebigmachine/art-movements-art-nouveau/

Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853. As he grew struggled for identity and longed for direction. He spent most of his adulthood on a pilgrim throughout Europe; painting, sketching and preaching the word of god.

He studied the word of the new impressionist painters and artists in Paris to try to imitate their delicate strokes and soft colors  But the result seemed stiff and effected. Then he developed his own bold and unconventional style. This although offended and alienated the art world elite.

In his whole lifetime he only sold 1 painting.

Work and solitude took its toll on van Gogh, and he started to act strangely from paint and turpentine fumes. Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear and delivered it to a prostitute.

While hospitalized, van Gogh worked in a studio set up by his brother Theo. There inspired by a dream, Vincent van Gogh painted "Starry Night."

Overcome with despair in 1890, he had written a letter in despair to his brother Theo. This was discovered only after his suicide.

                                                                      Starry Night

http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695

Owen Jones and The Grammar of Ornamentation

Owen Jones is an architect and a designer of welsh descent; who was born from London. He studied at the Royal Academy School and traveled to Italy and then Greece where he met Jules Goury who studied the use of paint and color to enhance architecture and statuary by the ancient Greeks.

Goury and Jones traveled to Egypt and carried out intricate studies of the Alhambra palace, and its Islamic decorations. This was finally finished by Jones and published the works in ‘Plans, elevations, sections and details of the Alhambra’.

The studies of the Alhambra were highly significant in the development of his interest in ornament. Jones and Goury observed the harmony of Moorish decoration was achieved through the use of primary colours with secondary and tertiary colors used in the backgrounds.

Jones was responsible for the interior decoration of Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace and also the arrangement of the exhibits inside for the Great Exhibition of 1851. This brought him attention from the public and also gave him the chance to test out his colour theories. For the interior he based the colour scheme on the primary colors of red, yellow and blue.

Jones presented his theories on decoration, ornament and polychromy in lectures at the Society of Art and the government school of design. Henry Cole, who was the mastermind of the Great Exhibition, encouraged Jones on the publication of his great work, ‘The Grammer of Ornament’.

This book presented in color many examples of ornament from a wide range of counties. The book contains:

·         100 detailed color plates of ornaments drawn from architecture

·         Textiles

·         Tiles

·         Rare books

·         Metalwork

·         Stained glass

·         And other decorative arts.

http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/special-collections/featurejonesgrammar.pdf

http://digitalcommons.ric.edu/book_gallery/1/

Jules Cheret

Jules Cheret was born in Paris in 1836. He was placed in a three year apprenticeship with a lithographer by his father who was a typographer. This is done due to low finances in the family and would have helped to sustain his formal education which ended at age of 13. Cheret's formal training in arts was limited to a course at the Ecole Nationale de Dessin.

Though Cheret was able to sell some of his art sketches to a number of music publishers in Paris, he was not satisfied. Therefore in hope of finding a greater opportunity as an artist - he left for London. He then later returned to Paris after working for The Maple Furniture Company with no more money than when he started. Although this did deter him and his determination led him his first task to create a poster. This later would reveal his role as the master of the poster.

His first poster was created in 1858. It was during this time he first worked in one or two colors. Cheret, in 1869, he introduced a new system of printing from three stones. These stones were black, red and 'fond gradue' Cheret had achieved what no other artists had done before. This was creating a process which was the basis of his color lithographic posters.

His work empowered uniqueness and aesthetic finesse of his creative endeavors. This was done through his work which showed a combination of delicate, powdery and graceful fluidity of pastel and hue. Charet's artistic style was truly original. He elevated lithography to an art form. He had the ability to print colours which were separated and balanced. His color lithographic process would later be used by Henri de Tourlouse-Lautrec.

He was famous for light-footed beauties which he painted; these were the iconic "Cherettes", which were two posters for the Moulin Rouge. This was achieved by fusing modernity, innovation and commercial effectiveness which attracted the attention of Paris.

                           

          Saxoleine                                   Eldorado                  Orphée aux Enfers d'Offenbach

http://www.cheret.info/index.html

http://www.artrepublic.com/biographies/205-jules-cheret.html

http://be-artsy.blogspot.com/p/jules-cheret.html

http://www.all-art.org/history530-3.html

Gustave Courbet

Courbet was a pioneering figure in the history of modernism. He was a French painter who led the Realist movement in the 19th century French paintings. He created a sensation at the Paris Salon when he exhibited a group of paintings set in his native Ornans. His paintings conveyed the blunt reality in realistic detailed of the daily life of ordinary people which previously were reserved for history paintings. His artworks were criticized as ugly, unsettling and took issue with the blurring of class boundaries in his paintings.

Landscapes played a central role in Courbet’s imagery. He identified himself with the topography of his native Ornans since the beginning of his career. Although he did not immerse himself fully in paintings of seascapes until he went on various trips to the Normandy coast. Thus in 1870 he exhibited only seascapes at the Salon to show off his assertion of his command of the genre.

He called himself a “Republican by birth” but did not take up arms during the 1848 Revolution. He numerously flouted the authority of the state and declared his independence from any form of government.  Courbet’s involvement with politics was complex. He played an active role in the political and artistic life of the short-lived socialist government.  Hence he was arrested and sentenced to 6 months for his involvement in the destruction of the Vendome Column. Fearing persecution by the newly installed government, he went into exile.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gust/hd_gust.htm

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin

He was a very influential English man who played a very crucial role in the revival of the Gothic design. He was born in London. He was the son and assistant to, Augustus Charles Pugin who was a producer of pattern books for Gothic buildings. He later converted to Catholicism. Later this led to a number of publications defending his chosen religion and advocating a correct Gothic style for its buildings. Catholic restorationists were greatly influenced by these publications.

Augustus Pugin’s propaganda campaign began with his architectural expression through a series of plates which were contrasting medieval with modern. These produced classically inspired buildings. This theme of contrast between middle ages, the pluralism and industrialized 19^th century was common in those times.

In Augustus Pugin’s The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture which he published in 1841, he explained:

·         Gothic as: rational, utilitarian architectural system in stone

·         Two great rules for design

1) No features should be on buildings unless they are necessary for convenience.
2) All ornaments should consist of enrichment of the essential construction of the building

http://biography.yourdictionary.com/augustus-welby-northmore-pugin

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12558b.htm

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/design/pugin/bio.html