Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau began from the 1880's till the First World War and it was held in the Western Europe and US. The inspirations were from organic objects such as dragonflies, wings, sea and grass.

Art Nouveau was influenced by: nature, arts and crafts, rococo, celtic art, Japanese art, Egyptian art and gothic revival. Certain curves were inspired from deep sea creatures.

Art Nouveau has several names in different countries:
Britain and Glasgow - Art Nouveau

France- Art Nouveau or Modern Style

Vienna- Sezessionstil

Germany- Jugendstil

Italy- Stile Liberty

Spain- Modernista

America- part of the Arts and Crafts


The term itself Art nouveau first appeared in the Belgian Journal in the 1880's-L-Art Moderne. Post-Impressionism and Symbolism were related with Art Nouveau. Some influential graphic artists were Alphonse Mucha, Jules Chéret, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Art Nouveau was meant to be beautiful while being affordable and having certain decoration.In the 1920's Art Nouveau lost its fashion because of Art Deco but then it regained it in the 1960's.

Jules Cheret

Jules Cheret was born in Paris in 1836 and died in 1982. He was a French painter and lithographer. He had a limited education because he and his family were poor. Painting led him to do an art course at the Ecole de Dessin.

While visiting various museums in Paris he studied some techniques of certain artists. Cheret left Paris because he wasn't happy with what he was doing and he hoped to find a job as an artist.

Cheret is known as the father of The Belle Epo
que poster where he inspired other painters for them to explore the genre. In 1890 he was awarded Legion d'Honneur also in 1928 his achievements in graphic art were honoured by the French government.

In 1863 Angelo Mariani came up with the Vin Mariani. It became one of the most popular wines of all time. It was a mixture of booze and coke. The advertisements said that it would give you health, strength, energy and vitality.





He uses colours for illustrations and he experiments with typographic elements. The typography in this illustration is sans-serif and it looks as though it is hand-written. The background colours are dull while the pink is creating attention.


Eugene Grasset

He was born in 1841 in Lausanne. He studied architecture and polytechnical in Zurich. He did furniture design, book illustrations and posters. Grasset did many important works such as the stained glass windows in the cathedral at Orleans, the design of the facade of the Hôtel de Dumas in Paris and mosaics in Saint Etienne in Braire.



These examples above are the work of Eugene Grasset, they have some Japanese characteristics, such as the trees and flowers and the clothes that they are wearing. They look like certain works on the wood blocks.






















This poster is from 1894, it was done by a thick black drawing locking forms into flat areas. As we can see in this image, Grasset used medieval clothing and he used touches of Japanese Art. He also made stained glasses, on fabric, typefaces and printers ornaments.

Bibliography:

Art Nouveau | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2014. Art Nouveau | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/hd_artn.htm. [Accessed 12 October 2014].

Jules Cheret - The complete works. 2014. Jules Cheret - The complete works. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.jules-cheret.org/. [Accessed 13 October 2014].

Cheret.Info - The Life and Art of French Painter Jules Cheret. 2014. Cheret.Info - The Life and Art of French Painter Jules Cheret. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cheret.info/. [Accessed 15 October 2014].

Patent Medicines of Yesteryear | The Fix. 2014. Patent Medicines of Yesteryear | The Fix. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thefix.com/content/patent-medicines-yesteryear#slide6. [Accessed 15 October 2014].

Jules Cheret: French Poster Designer, Lithographer. 2014. Jules Cheret: French Poster Designer, Lithographer. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/jules-cheret.htm. [Accessed 15 October 2014].

Design History: Jules Cheret. 2014. Design History: Jules Cheret. [ONLINE] Available at: http://be-artsy.blogspot.com/p/jules-cheret.html. [Accessed 15 October 2014].

Eug￿ Samuel Grasset Biography - Infos - Art Market. 2014. Eug￿ Samuel Grasset Biography - Infos - Art Market. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.eugene-grasset.com/. [Accessed 15 October 2014].

http://guity-novin.blogspot.com/2010/05/history-of-graphic-design-birth-of-art.html


Having a look at History of Graphic Design: Cheret and Grasset. 2014. Having a look at History of Graphic Design: Cheret and Grasset. [ONLINE] Available at: http://havingalookathistoryofgraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2012/06/cheret-and-grasset.html. [Accessed 19 October 2014].