Art Nouveau Glass
from the Glass
Encyclopedia

Art Nouveau was a style of decoration popular in the 1890's and 1900's lasting until War broke out in Europe in 1914. It uses free flowing motifs based on nature.

Geofrey Warren captured the essence of Art Nouveau with the words: "Think of a sensuous line: of a flowing line: a line which bends and turns back on itself. Think of the feminine form, rounded and curving. Think of plant forms growing and burgeoning. Think of flowers in bud, in over-blown blossom, as seed pods. Think of ....waves, think of women's hair, think of twisting smoke."

Art Nouveau glass was made by many great artists, including Emile Galle, Louis C. Tiffany, the Daum brothers at Daum Nancy, Muller Freres, Loetz, and the Powells at Whitefriars(amongst others).

In Germany this style is called Jugenstil and in Italy Floreal or Liberty; in Austria it is called Secessionstil; and in France it was often called Modern Style. The name Art Nouveau is derived from a Paris gallery called 'Maison de L'Art Nouveau', which played a role in displaying and popularising this style.

Art Nouveau was in part a reaction to the Victorian passion for imitating earlier styles like Classical and Renaissance, Baroque and Rococco styles. Imitations of works of art from the past seemed to give the Victorians a sense of security and confidence in their own affluence. Art Nouveau was something fresh, entirely new, and a break-away from the old traditions. It was also in part a reaction to the perceived ugliness and despair of the machine age; art nouveau was "a blaze of invention, fantasy and audacity" (Buffet-Challie).

The new style which took Europe and the USA by storm for such a brief period was bold, original, creative, and flamboyant. It was applied to furniture, jewellery, printing, glass, ceramics, and even buildings. It grew out of the "Arts and Crafts" movement and was replaced after little more than 20 years, by the "Art Deco" period which followed in the 1920's.

But during that brief period glass artists in Europe and the USA created some brilliant works of art in glass. Some of the finest art glass every made comes from the Art Nouveau period.

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