Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below the other posts in this series:
Art Nouveau (Part I)
Art Nouveau (Part II)
Art Nouveau (Part IV)
Introduction[1]
The first tentative gestures of the Art Nouveau movement was made in the mid-1800's in continental Europe. It spread its zenith for a brief twenty years, from about 1890 to 1910, Artists and craftsmen of the time were seeing the results of the Industrial Revolution and the creation of an increasingly mechanised society. It became all too easy for a machine or assembly line to reproduce objects that formerly had been hand-wrought with care and thought and love.
Alphonse Mucha, 'Gismonda' (1894).
Many artists became disgusted with imitative art and the machine, which seemed to have cheapened and vulgarised everything. They wanted to return to craftsmanship, quality, simplicity and nature. Art and Craft Guilds and Societies sprang up everywhere to preserve and carry on the tradition of skilled artistry and fine craftsmanship.
The individual Art Nouveau artist became adept at creating and designing furniture, fabrics, pottery, glassware, silver ware and jewlery, as well as paintings and sculpture. This diversification included architecture and interior decoration. Everything was to be handcrafted and all had to be objects of beauty and use. All continental Europe felt the influence of Art Nouveau, but Paris became the center for the movement, developing some of the most sophisticated and inspired examples of Art Nouveau artistry.
Large French Art Nouveau Citrine and Diamond Lavalière Necklace.
Art Nouveau (Part III)[1]
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)[2]
We already discovered a hint of Expressionism in the work of Maillol (see previous post in this series); it can be discerned even more clearly in this linocut by Henri Matisse. What, in Mailol's case, still seems rounded-off and static, is in a state of dissolution in the work of Matisse; his female nude seems truly to be threatened by the waves - their inclusion creates a dissonance, even if the woman's hair, portrayed in the same characteristic style as waves, appears to be a point of harmony with the element of water. One is almost tempted to switch around the titles of the two illustrations: Matisse's depiction seems closer to the theme of the 'Wave' than does Maillol's static wood-engraving, for which 'Female Nude' would be a more appropriate title. On the other hand, his girl responds actively to the element of water, whereas Matisse simply confronts the woman asleep in the deck-chair with the sea.
Henri Matisse began by studying law, was a student of the Parisian Académie Julian from 1890, and subsequently of the Ecole des Beaux Arts,. Initially he had an affinity to Impressionism, but he turned away from this around 1900, influenced by Cézanne, and then found his way towards the expressionist style typical of him, which made him the outstanding leader of the new force in France, the 'Fauves', literally, 'wild beast.'
Title: Female Nude, ca. 1906-1910 (Detailed View).
Technique: Linocut.
Size: 47.3 x 38.5 cm.
Edward Okun (1872 - 1945)[2]
Edward Okun is a Polish representative of Art Nouveau who is little known. Okun studied in Warsaw, Cracow, Munich and Paris, and lived abroad for a long time, and returned to his home country in 1921, where he was Professor at the School of Art in Warsaw from 1925-1930. The periodical 'Chimera', for which Okun produced the cover, which is illustrated below, was named after the fire-breathing monster from the Greek myth which had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent - a name full of symbolism for a periodical in a country which in those years, struggled against Russia, Germany and Austria for its national independence and achieved this from time to time only in the realm of art.
Cover for the periodical 'Chimera', 1902 (Detailed View).
Technique: Pen and ink.
Size: 22 x 18 cm.
Armand Séguin (1869 - 1903)[2]
Emile Bernard (1868-1941) and Armand Séguin are the most gifted artists in the group from Pont-Aven, which we will encounter on several more occasions in this series. Séguin met van Gogh and Gauguin there too, who were an important influence on his paintings and graphic art. As a consequence of his early death, his oeuvre is not large in terms of number, but it nevertheless contains a powerful message and a high artistic value. The illustrations below are two pieces produced during his second visit to Post-Aven in 1892/93. Both testify to Séguin's introverted nature, about which his painter friends have reported. It finds especially clear expression in the 'Sea Landscape', which wound up on the horizon, towards which three parallel lines lead, so preventing the eyes of the spectator from drifting off into the distance which remains shut off from view. The peaceful horizon stands in stark contrast to the waves of the landscape which is depicted in swirling lines and is reminiscent of paintings by van Gogh. In the 'Avenues of Trees' Séguin's lines tangle themselves in knots even more clearly; the elliptical character of the portal is striking. The tree-tops are joined together in waves, and the silhouette of the avenue resembles waves too, rising slowly and then suddenly collapsing. The influence of Séguin on their graphic portrayal of landscapes by Edvard Munch, who had seen the work of his French colleague in Paris, is unmistakable.
Title: Sea Landscape, 1893 (Detailed View)
Technique: Lithograph.
Size: 22.5 x 30.5 cm.
Title: Anvenue of Trees, 1893 (Detailed View)
Technique: Etching.
Size: 18 x 30 cm.
Franz von Stuck (1863 - 1928)[2]
The rise of Franz von Stuck from being an impoverished son of a village miller to the position of 'painter laureate; sounds like a modern western dream, but it took place in Munich around the turn of the century. Stuck studied at the College of Commercial Art (1882-1884), and from 1885 at the Academy, but his professors must have seen him only very rarely: as he was completely penniless, he had to concentrate on earning a living, which he did by creating a series of humanistic pictures for various magazines in Munich. Taking Boeklin, Lenbach, Holbein, and Dietz as his models, this largely self taught artist managed to be represented at the annual exhibition in Munich in 1889. And thus began a career as a painter, graphic artist, sculptor and architect: in 1893 he co-founded the Munich 'Secession'; from 1895 he was Professor at the Academy there; at the end of the 1890s he had already earned so much money with his work that he could build the famous Stuck villa in Munich, which was his home and studio simultaneously (since 1968 it has served as a Museum of Art Nouveau, and a tourist attraction for those interested in the history of art). In 1906 he was raised to the peerage, hence epithet 'painter laureate'.
His paintings represent without doubt his most impressive work, but we shall concentrate on his Art Nouveau work, which almost exclusively have erotic themes. Stuck's title page for the periodical 'Pan' is much more moderate than his usual style.
Title page for periodical 'Pan', 1895 (Detailed View).
Technique: Autotype.
Size: 31.8 x 22.3 cm.
Reference
[1] J.C. Day, Art Nouveau Cut & Use Stencils, Dover Publications, Inc., New York (1977).
[2] P. Bramböck, Art Nouveau, Tiger Books Internation, London (1988).
For your convenience I have listed below the other posts in this series:
Art Nouveau (Part I)
Art Nouveau (Part II)
Art Nouveau (Part IV)
Introduction[1]
The first tentative gestures of the Art Nouveau movement was made in the mid-1800's in continental Europe. It spread its zenith for a brief twenty years, from about 1890 to 1910, Artists and craftsmen of the time were seeing the results of the Industrial Revolution and the creation of an increasingly mechanised society. It became all too easy for a machine or assembly line to reproduce objects that formerly had been hand-wrought with care and thought and love.
Many artists became disgusted with imitative art and the machine, which seemed to have cheapened and vulgarised everything. They wanted to return to craftsmanship, quality, simplicity and nature. Art and Craft Guilds and Societies sprang up everywhere to preserve and carry on the tradition of skilled artistry and fine craftsmanship.
The individual Art Nouveau artist became adept at creating and designing furniture, fabrics, pottery, glassware, silver ware and jewlery, as well as paintings and sculpture. This diversification included architecture and interior decoration. Everything was to be handcrafted and all had to be objects of beauty and use. All continental Europe felt the influence of Art Nouveau, but Paris became the center for the movement, developing some of the most sophisticated and inspired examples of Art Nouveau artistry.
Art Nouveau (Part III)[1]
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)[2]
We already discovered a hint of Expressionism in the work of Maillol (see previous post in this series); it can be discerned even more clearly in this linocut by Henri Matisse. What, in Mailol's case, still seems rounded-off and static, is in a state of dissolution in the work of Matisse; his female nude seems truly to be threatened by the waves - their inclusion creates a dissonance, even if the woman's hair, portrayed in the same characteristic style as waves, appears to be a point of harmony with the element of water. One is almost tempted to switch around the titles of the two illustrations: Matisse's depiction seems closer to the theme of the 'Wave' than does Maillol's static wood-engraving, for which 'Female Nude' would be a more appropriate title. On the other hand, his girl responds actively to the element of water, whereas Matisse simply confronts the woman asleep in the deck-chair with the sea.
Henri Matisse began by studying law, was a student of the Parisian Académie Julian from 1890, and subsequently of the Ecole des Beaux Arts,. Initially he had an affinity to Impressionism, but he turned away from this around 1900, influenced by Cézanne, and then found his way towards the expressionist style typical of him, which made him the outstanding leader of the new force in France, the 'Fauves', literally, 'wild beast.'
Technique: Linocut.
Size: 47.3 x 38.5 cm.
Edward Okun (1872 - 1945)[2]
Edward Okun is a Polish representative of Art Nouveau who is little known. Okun studied in Warsaw, Cracow, Munich and Paris, and lived abroad for a long time, and returned to his home country in 1921, where he was Professor at the School of Art in Warsaw from 1925-1930. The periodical 'Chimera', for which Okun produced the cover, which is illustrated below, was named after the fire-breathing monster from the Greek myth which had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent - a name full of symbolism for a periodical in a country which in those years, struggled against Russia, Germany and Austria for its national independence and achieved this from time to time only in the realm of art.
Technique: Pen and ink.
Size: 22 x 18 cm.
Armand Séguin (1869 - 1903)[2]
Emile Bernard (1868-1941) and Armand Séguin are the most gifted artists in the group from Pont-Aven, which we will encounter on several more occasions in this series. Séguin met van Gogh and Gauguin there too, who were an important influence on his paintings and graphic art. As a consequence of his early death, his oeuvre is not large in terms of number, but it nevertheless contains a powerful message and a high artistic value. The illustrations below are two pieces produced during his second visit to Post-Aven in 1892/93. Both testify to Séguin's introverted nature, about which his painter friends have reported. It finds especially clear expression in the 'Sea Landscape', which wound up on the horizon, towards which three parallel lines lead, so preventing the eyes of the spectator from drifting off into the distance which remains shut off from view. The peaceful horizon stands in stark contrast to the waves of the landscape which is depicted in swirling lines and is reminiscent of paintings by van Gogh. In the 'Avenues of Trees' Séguin's lines tangle themselves in knots even more clearly; the elliptical character of the portal is striking. The tree-tops are joined together in waves, and the silhouette of the avenue resembles waves too, rising slowly and then suddenly collapsing. The influence of Séguin on their graphic portrayal of landscapes by Edvard Munch, who had seen the work of his French colleague in Paris, is unmistakable.
Technique: Lithograph.
Size: 22.5 x 30.5 cm.
Technique: Etching.
Size: 18 x 30 cm.
Franz von Stuck (1863 - 1928)[2]
The rise of Franz von Stuck from being an impoverished son of a village miller to the position of 'painter laureate; sounds like a modern western dream, but it took place in Munich around the turn of the century. Stuck studied at the College of Commercial Art (1882-1884), and from 1885 at the Academy, but his professors must have seen him only very rarely: as he was completely penniless, he had to concentrate on earning a living, which he did by creating a series of humanistic pictures for various magazines in Munich. Taking Boeklin, Lenbach, Holbein, and Dietz as his models, this largely self taught artist managed to be represented at the annual exhibition in Munich in 1889. And thus began a career as a painter, graphic artist, sculptor and architect: in 1893 he co-founded the Munich 'Secession'; from 1895 he was Professor at the Academy there; at the end of the 1890s he had already earned so much money with his work that he could build the famous Stuck villa in Munich, which was his home and studio simultaneously (since 1968 it has served as a Museum of Art Nouveau, and a tourist attraction for those interested in the history of art). In 1906 he was raised to the peerage, hence epithet 'painter laureate'.
His paintings represent without doubt his most impressive work, but we shall concentrate on his Art Nouveau work, which almost exclusively have erotic themes. Stuck's title page for the periodical 'Pan' is much more moderate than his usual style.
Technique: Autotype.
Size: 31.8 x 22.3 cm.
Reference
[1] J.C. Day, Art Nouveau Cut & Use Stencils, Dover Publications, Inc., New York (1977).
[2] P. Bramböck, Art Nouveau, Tiger Books Internation, London (1988).
No comments:
Post a Comment