MODERNISM

Revision

Introduction• A rt Nouveau is the French/B elgian name of an art

movement in reaction to the academical schools at the end of the XIXth century (1894-1914).

• This movement was represented in Europe and also in the United S tates.

• It had often several names in each country:– in Germany "Jugendstil", – in Italy: "S tile L iberty", – "Art Nouveau" in France, – Modernism in S pain,– "Nieuwe Kunst" in the Netherlands or – "S ezessionstil" in A ustria).

Introduction• A rtists wanted to erase the distinction between major

and minor arts. • They aimed at unifying all arts, centred it around man

and his life. • A rchitecture was the central art on which every skill is

naturally integrated. • A rchitecture is seen as a total art every detail, object

of/in the building is related to the whole.• This decorative style took its inspiration into nature

and women.

Roots and influences

Materials• It used all the new materials at hand such as:

– Cast iron: It is merely used as columns in the building field – S teel: This material is the symbol of the first industrial revolution – Ceramics: It was used due to several factors:

• Technical: It is waterproof, fireproof and pollution proof. • S anitary: It is easily washable. • Economic: It is more profitable longer lasting wear and lower installation

cost. • Aesthetic

– Glass: There are several factors for its use:• Functional and S anitary: making luminous living areas. • Decoration: use of stain glasses. • Integration: glass make

– Reinforced concrete: Cheaper and strong enough

Technical advances• These advances made possible the change in

building conception:– Lift elevators: With the arrival of lifts, the masters

floor will be the last floor because air is much more respirable there and it maximizes the sun enlightment.

– Electrical light: It influenced in the evolution of lamps design

– Central heating: Houses became more comfortable.

Character• Dynamic, undulating, and flowing, with curved

'whiplash' lines of syncopated rhythm, characterized much of A rt Nouveau.

• A nother feature is the use of hyperbolas and parabolas in windows, arches, and doors. Conventional moldings seem to spring to life and 'grow' into plant-derived forms.

• Like most design styles, A rt Nouveau sought to harmonize its forms.

• The text above the Paris Metro entrance follows the qualities of the rest of the iron work in the structure

Character• A s an art movement it has affinities with the Pre-Raphaelites

and the S ymbolism movement.• Unlike S ymbolist painting, however, A rt Nouveau has a

distinctive visual look; and unlike the backward-looking A rts and Crafts Movement, A rt Nouveau artists quickly used new materials, machined surfaces, and abstraction in the service of pure design.

• A rt Nouveau in architecture and interior design eschewed the eclectic revival styles of the V ictorian era.

• Though A rt Nouveau designers selected and 'modernized' some of the more abstract elements of Rococo style, such as flame and shell textures, they also advocated the use of highly stylized organic forms as a source of inspiration, expanding the 'natural' repertoire to embrace seaweed, grasses and insects.

Character• Japanese wood-block prints, with their curved lines, patterned

surfaces, contrasting voids, and flatness of visual plane, also inspired A rt Nouveau. S ome line and curve patterns became graphic clichés that were later found in works of artists from all parts of the world.

• A rt Nouveau did not negate the machine as the A rts and Crafts Movement did, but used it to its advantage. For sculpture, the principal materials employed were glass and wrought iron, leading to sculptural qualities even in architecture.

• A rt Nouveau is considered a 'total' style, meaning that it encompasses a hierarchy of scales in design — architecture; interior design; decorative arts including jewelry, furniture, textiles, household silver and other utensils, and lighting; and the range of visual arts.

Origin• A mong the first manifestations of the style are the

works of the B elgian V ictor Horta, who applied the new conceptions in his Tassel House (1892).

• Here he developed a new concept of architecture based on the rational use of iron but without renouncing to treat it in an expressive and decorative way with cures and lineal rhythms very refined that gave to the columns, girders and handrails flower shape.

Expansion• From B elgium, and thanks to the fast diffusion of printed press,

it expanded all over Europe, finding in Catalonia one of the most important regions due to the enthusiastic baking of industrial bourgeoisie.

• There appeared one of the most important and original architects of the movement, Gaudí (1852-1926), whose architecture, highly plastic, almost sculptural, looks to be made of natural forms.

• Gaudi also realised the decoration of the buildings, trying to keep coherence between exterior and interior.

• Other architects of the period in S pain are Domènec I Montaner and Puig I Cadafalch. In B arcelona the Modernism reached to all the cultural aspects, with painters such as Rusiñol, Ramón Casas, Nonell.

Expansion• The new style affected basically architecture and decorative

arts, but it also influenced on all the others. Its theory expanded with the illustrated magazines, speeches, exhibitions that were useful to expand the knowledge of technical advances.

• In this way there were established the basis of the style to which each country added its own particularities:– in B elgium, France and S pain curves and flowers are essential

elements of the style,– in B ritain, S cotland or Germany it is geometrical. – In all the cases it was a reaction against the eclecticism and its

inspiration was nature and symbolist painting.

Characteristics• In architecture:

– they looked for flexibility of the line and sinuosity with decorative finality;

– they used coloured materials and moulding stone; – bars, balconies and supports were made in forged iron.

• The new materials offered to the architect complete creative freedom.

• They assumed not only the structural and building process but also the decorative and furnishing, making of them real designers.

Characteristics• Interiors were organised as a surface of sinuous and

sensual lines, with a naturalistic tendency. • There were harmonic wholes created with freedom and

fantasy. • They looked for the pleasure of the integration of

beauty and welfare.• Nature was translated to the interior, making it

flexible, instable and light.

Characteristics• S inuous lines were elongated on walls and floors, in a

kind of vegetal metaphor. • The work is organic, extracted from nature; the use of

flower elements with decorative purpose created an smart atmosphere.

• The main centres of production were – France, – B elgium, – Germany and – A ustria.

• A mong the authors we can mention V ictor Horta, the pioneer, V an de V elde and Otto Wagner in Wien.

United Kingdom• There were several styles that were influential

in the style:– A rts & Crafts– Garden city movement– Japanese influences

• Glasgow was the main centre where Rene M ackintosh was the leader of the “ Group of Four” that developed the style

• The main work is the Glasgow A rt S chool

United Kingdom• In B ritain, In Glasgow, S cottish architect Charles Rennie M ackintosh also

developed a rectilinear version of art nouveau, which he employed in numerous buildings and their furnishings.

• In the Glasgow S chool of A rt, completed in two phases (eastern section 1897-1899, western section 1906-1909), he used contemporary materials in an elegant, angular style.

• Characteristics:– The simple shapes of the brick and stone exterior clearly indicate the division of

space within the building, while large expanses of glass provide a strong visual connection between the interior spaces and the outside world.

– Window mullions (dividers between panes of glass), doors, and fences use ironwork in an elegant linear or geometric manner.

– This seemingly simple design offers a strong contrast to the ornate architecture based on past styles that was typical of the time.

Belgium• The name "Art Nouveau" was first created in this country and

was associated with a will of creating a new tradition centred on the human being.

• A rt Nouveau artists were often concerned by all the aspects that surround us therefore architecture was a place of integration of all arts including dressing design.

• Many artists developed numerous skills, to make a global design of the houses.

• V ictor Horta, the most well known one, designed the houses from the plan to stone work, from the furniture to the towels and chimney railings.

• There are two trends:– Curve: V ictor Horta, V an de V elde– Geometrical: Hankar, V an de V elde

Belgium• A rt Nouveau architecture, in B russels, flourished in the work of

B elgian designers V ictor Horta and Henry van de V elde. • These B elgian designers sought to create a new style, free from

the historical references of prevailing traditions.• They utilized standard wrought iron and cast-iron technology,

but employed it to create distinctly new forms.• In the Hôtel Tassel in B russels (1892-1893), Horta not only

revealed the structural column that supports the second floor, but transformed its cast-iron form into a plantlike stem that terminates in a burst of intertwined tendrils as it connects with other structural elements.

France• In France designer Hector Guimard designed

entrances for the M etro stations in Paris (1898-1901) using simple metal and glass forms decorated with curvilinear wrought iron.

• These are especially memorable examples of art nouveau's delightfully curving naturalistic forms.

• The style developed in Paris and Nancy

Germany• A rt nouveau took hold in a number of

German-speaking cities, the most prominent of which were M unich, Darmstadt, and Weimar in Germany, and V ienna in A ustria.

• Known as Jugendstil (German for “ youth style” ), art nouveau was promoted in M unich through periodicals such as Die Jugend (The Y outh)

Wien: The Sezession• The Wien S ezession was created in May 1897 by the famous

painter Gustav Klimt. • The first members included Josef Maria Olbrich, Josef

Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and Rudolph B acher.• When Otto Wagner met the group the movement took another

dimension.• In 1898, Olbrich built the S ezession building where the next

exhibitions of the S ezession group took place. • The S ezession motto: "To each time, its art; to art, its liberty." • The building has white nude walls contrasting with its sculpted

golden dome.• It is decorated inside with the famous "B eethoven" freeze by

Klimt.

Wien• S tylistic trends in V ienna took a significantly different direction. • Led by A ustrian artist Gustav Klimt, young artists and architects

formed a group called the Wiener S ezession, or V ienna S ecession, in protest against the entrenched conservatism of the art establishment in V ienna.

• A s did their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, S ezession designers rejected historical styles; but in V ienna they expressed this through an increasing simplification of form.

• Rather than embracing the writhing organic forms of Endell or Olbrist in Munich, V iennese artists moved towards the restrained geometric designs exemplified by the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Spain• A t the end of last century, B arcelona was quaked by anarchism

together with Catalan nationalism.• It was an area of quick industrial development and the artistic

world was not forgotten. • The Catalan modernism movement aimed to gather every

artistic skill and wanted to get out of the steady and leisurely historicism like other European A rt Nouveau movements.

• It starts from the 1880 with the painter Ramon Casas and the theoriser Cirici Pellicer.

• L'Eixample: This famous part of B arcelone gathers more than 150 modernist buildings including the S agrada Familia.

• Famous Architects: G a u d i , Domenech i Montaner, Jujol, Puig y Cadafalch