Analysis of Art Nouveau Period - Essay Example

dear client, almost done with the paper. This is just an incomplete draft so you can check how I approached the paper. I’m just putting the illustrations, in-text citations, and the reference page. I will upload the finalized paper in an hour or so. This will not take much longer. Please ignore the ‘completed’ status of your paper. Thanks =) Art Nouveau The Art Nouveau era was a period of unmatched variety in spiritual and material culture. Reacting to the developments of the modern period and its essence of transformation, Art Nouveau discarded the unquestioning, unoriginal imitation of earlier techniques and styles, and promoted the assortment and innovation of that applicable and appropriate to the present. Its architects also showed a skill in integrating discovery and originality; thus the artificiality of Art Nouveau. This essay analyses Art Nouveau, particularly the influence of nature on its development. This essay addresses the question, why is it that Art Nouveau was so much inspired by nature but nature as it is was never really there? In fact, the Art Nouveau period was an era of original, innovative perspective of the self, the world, and the relationship of human beings to the nature. Interestingly, everything about Art Nouveau is somewhat artificial. Arrogance of purpose and conventionality of form were the major features of European architecture within which Art Nouveau emerged. It was a period of fast urban development, when the wealthy craved to flaunt their riches in architectural forms. On the contrary, Art Nouveau was a dream that originate directly from the core as a denunciation of the dreary homogenisation of the environment-- of objects such as furniture and dwellings that greatly influence people’s everyday activities and experiences. Art Nouveau evoked longing for the past and the natural environment, for the irrational twirls of flower stems and vines, for the primitive and rural, and more commonly for pre-industrial irregularity or unevenness. It also developed harmoniously with the medieval aspirations that greatly defined the visual artistry of the latter part of the 19th century. However, Art Nouveau also seemed advanced, willingly grasping the materials of the present and establishing itself as a movement of original, but at the same time, artificial novelty. Did stone validate the strength and riches of the affluent, whose self-centredness Art Nouveau ridiculed? Art Nouveau showed off its originality by transforming stone into a lively work of art with swirling flora, legendary people and mythical creatures. Art Nouveau skilfully used and manipulated stone, but at the same time, adopted new materials like glass, steel, iron, and polychrome glazing, usually in interesting and extraordinary mixtures or arrangements in the same creation, whether it is furniture or a dwelling. Every facet of human thought and behaviour were explored once more. It may be reasonably assumed that there was a transition to a worldview that was governed by an extraordinary sense of assurance and appreciation as regards the environment and human circumstances. There was an incomparable feeling that humanity was embracing life and existence, that the Gothic idea that people inhabit a world engulfed by the enigmatic, unfathomable, impenetrable, and bizarre was being eroded. However, as a contradiction, there was also a rejection of positivist ideas, western materialism, and empirical evidence. A feeling of aversion resulted in a return to forgotten traditions and bygone eras and a hostility to mercantilist capitalism. In spite of this dichotomy—a contrast between the natural and the artificial—the new perspectives have in common a sense of identity and discovery. On the one hand is the absolute, Darwinian human being, able to manipulate and utilise nature so as to achieve a more convenient life, and, on the other, is a human being living harmoniously with nature, made up of the same substance. The flourishing of the many occurrences in intellectual and material culture implied that Europeans all of a sudden had a remarkable range of social, political, and spiritual options available to them. This motivated various responses that could vacillate between uncertainty, understanding, and confidence. However, this range also implied that it seemed that humanity was on the brink of being all-powerful—not merely able to comprehend the forces of nature, but also to dominate, capture, and manipulate them so as to surpass them by some means; thus, the drive towards scientific knowledge; the desire to travel speedily; and the dream to see the universe. Art Nouveau, basically, captured nearly all aspects of innovation or novelty that thrived in the Europeanised world in the end of the 19th century. This somewhat sheds light on its inconsistencies and vagueness as well as its local and aesthetic differences. With Art Nouveau artists aware that the traditional perspectives were being rejected, questioned, or at least defied, the movement drew nourishment from the modern ideas of social, political, and physical science, and the series of inventions. They were aware of the widespread recognition of science, knowledge and other worlds that was disseminated by a means of an extensively widened selection of print media and a significantly increased number of intellectual bodies and museums. And thus in numerous regards Art Nouveau was a reaction to the diversity of artefacts of the latter part of the 19th century that substantially influenced current frameworks of how the world operates. Hence, although Art Nouveau was inspired by nature its artists tend to produce artificial creations. Moreover, the Art Nouveau period was the first wherein the risks and benefits of modern capitalism and materialism were being constantly exposed and dealt with. For the movement’s artists this may suggest an immersion into the material, artificial world, conveyed through the building of exquisite decorative structures, with unusual or rare materials, showing great artistry, originality, and artificiality. Also, supported by the new technologies, it may suggest the subordination of such features, as well as the overpowering of the material and its design, all for new styles of combined architecture and art. It may also suggest the replacement of visual forms with material, artificial ideals. Moreover, the various tendencies of Art Nouveau were often integrated by the formal recreation of motion, as though in line with the growing understanding of the unstable forces that made up the world. This in contradiction to the previous focus on creating something that entirely revolved around nature. With diverse worldviews it is reasonable to subsume within the Art Nouveau tradition a huge array of artists. An integrating aspect was popularisation of designs in favour of a more natural art. Sometimes, for some, such as Gallen and Bilek, this may imply ‘primivitisation’, or the interpretation of natural symmetries. For others it may be merged with the application of new technologies so as to produce artefacts of new sophistication. Some examples of these are Horta and Guimard’s lavish application of bent iron and Toulouse-Lautrec and Mucha’s expertise in colour lithography. With numerous existing models of the artificiality of reality, it was not unexpected to see artists producing mixed forms illustrative of no specific being. This somewhat clarifies the reason Art Nouveau usually focused on the artificial, the surreal, creating bizarre illusions, like Endell’s portico of the Elvira Studio in Munich. These extraordinary, crossbred images were also shown by Lalique’s dragonfly ornament and Gaudi’s Gate of the Finca Guell. Endell explained the artificiality embedded in his creations, and thus in most Art Nouveau works, by means of theoretical writings. He explained not just the creation of artificial art forms, but also of the tremendous force natural forms could create if sensitivity towards them is heightened: … he who has never been delighted by the exquisite bendings of the blade of grass, by the wonderful inflexibility of the thistle, the austere youthfulness of the sprouting leafbuds—who has never been gripped by the powerful form of a tree root, the stolid power of the cracked bark, the slender flexibility of the birch trunk, the great calm of broad masses of leaves, and stirred to the depths of his soul, he still knows nothing about the beauty of forms. Read More