The Art Nouveau style and movement, at its height between 1890 and 1910, enabled a sense of freedom for both its artists and the public as a whole. It offered strikingly original ideologies and transformed both the artistic and the mundane world alike with common characteristics like curvilinear shapes and a sense of the return to the natural and to nature as well as being at the crux of a fundamental change in how artworks were mass produced. The Art Nouveau style seemed to walk between the two worlds: it was simultaneously fantastical and grounded in reality and there was no artist in the period that was better equipped to “know and see the dance of the seven veils,” (Zatlin) than Aubrey Beardsley. It is impossible to fully discuss the value …show more content…
His poem, “A Ballad of a Barber” (1896) still embodies his aesthetic and visual artistic works as he mentions the decadence of courtly life with the coiffed hair and “powder, paints, and dyes” (Beckson, 7) with a hint of Beardsley’s signature taboo sexuality subtly peeking through. Jerome H. Buckley, in The Victorian Temper, wrote than it was, “surely intended to convey a complete allegory of Decadence itself,” (Beckson, 6). He also produced posters and his accompanying essay, “The Art of Hoarding” (1894) enabled a conversation about art and advertising, suggesting that the two were one and the same, citing that, “beauty has laid siege to the city,” (Beardsley) and that poster and advertisement design offers more freedom than traditional forms of art. His clear support and encouragement of artistic advertising fits very well into the lithography graphic poster ‘craze’ that took place, particularly in France, during the Art Nouveau movement. It can even be argued that his illustrations for prose and poetry of popular writers like Alexander Pope and Oscar Wilde are, in their essence, advertisements for the works of these authors. Aubrey Beardsley, again, was simultaneously on every side of the artistic debate: he aligned himself with Whitler-esqe ideologies of aestheticism while also publically promoting the artistic validity of street posters and advertisements but the thing that remained constant no matter which cause he was articulating was a sense of unapologetic fervor. Beardsley was racing against the clock of his coming death throughout his entire life and his artistic career was no
The earliest forms of art had made it’s mark in history for being an influential and unique representation of various cultures and religions as well as playing a fundamental role in society. However, with the new era of postmodernism, art slowly deviated away from both the religious context it was originally created in, and apart from serving as a ritual function. Walter Benjamin, a German literary critic and philosopher during the 1900’s, strongly believed that the mass production of pieces has freed art from the boundaries of tradition, “For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependance on ritual” (Benjamin 1992). This particular excerpt has a direct correlation with the work of Andy Warhol, specifically “Silver Liz as Cleopatra.” Andy Warhol’s rendition of Elizabeth Taylor are prime examples of the shift in art history that Benjamin refers to as the value of this particular piece is based upon its mass production, and appropriation of iconic images and people.
The 18th century is well known for its complex artistic movements such as Romantism and Neo-classical. The leading style Rococo thrived from 1700-1775 and was originated from the French words rocaille and coquille which meant “rock” and “shell”; used to decorate the Baroque gardens1. Identified as the age of “Enlightenment”, philosophers would ignite their ideas into political movements1. Associated with this movement is England’s John Locke who advanced the concept of “empiricism”. This denotes that accepting knowledge of matters of fact descends from experience and personal involvement1. Locke’s concept assisted the improvements of microscopes and telescopes allowing art students in the French academy to observe real life1. Science and experience influenced painting more so in Neo-Classicalism. Locke fought for people’s rights and the power or “contract” between the ruler and the ruled. Reasoning that “the Light in Enlightenment referred to the primacy of reason and intellect…and a belief in progress and in the human ability to control nature”1. Hence, the commence of experimental paintings such as Joseph Wright’s (1734-1797) oil on canvas painting: Fig.1 An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. This image was developed through science by placing a bird in glass container and pumping air to see the effects it would have on the bird (White cockatoo)1. Throughout the late 18th and early 19th century in Western Europe, Neo-Classical art became the “true Style” and was accepted by the French Revolution under Louis XIV. Neo-Classical art was a reaction to Rococo’s light hearted, humour and emotion filled pieces.
This group ran their own exhibition, and over time, became some of the famous names we know today, such as: Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Alfred Sisley. However, it was not all fame and fortune from the beginning. Most patrons who came to the exhibition were so used to the classic, disciplined style that they often criticized the artists’ works, calling them “unfinished” and offended that they could showcase “sketches” as finished pieces. But this is exactly what these artists embraced; letting go of formality and embracing the “freedom of technique” (“Impressionism”,
Art Deco was a style that flourished throughout 1910 to around 1935. Known for its advancements in the art of advertising, the style had begun to prosper around the start of World War I (1914 – 1919), and had further developed to become a combination of various styles, as well as a rebellion against the concepts of Art Nouveau. Originally known to be referred to as the Art Moderne style, the name was changed only after the period had already passed its peak. The origin of the name involved the idea of decorative arts, hence the shortened name Art Deco, but previously the style had taken root within the time period of Modernism. Modernists sought to abstract the form and move away from the naturalistic curves found within the Art Nouveau period,
Fin de siècle is a term which is now used to refer to the period of the last 40 or so years of the Nineteenth Century and its art, yet at the time the word had genuine sociological connotations of modernity, social decay and reaction. In France in particular though arguably throughout Europe, society was changing in such a way as to merit such a pessimistic term for the trend evolving. The growing ability for the mass of the people to access all areas of society, previously only available to an appreciative elite coupled with the growing crime rate and visible decline of this elite are factors of this social phenomenon. The modernist writers, typically the youthful offspring of the old elites, certainly used fin de siècle as a theme. There is evidence of a conflict with the concept of fin de siècle, but it is too simple to say that they displayed a fear of fin de siècle. As I will try to show in this essay, the modernist reaction to and interpretation of fin de siècle is not static and, as though proportional to the development of modernity as an aesthetic, develops through works of varying mediums by different authors over the period identified as 'modernist'.
Art Deco as an art mover has had a lot of influence in the history of arts and was under the influence of the past art movements and different cultures, the present lifestyle and the societies of the life changing World War I and II. In design Art Deco was glamorous and in style it was luxurious. Major influences were the styles of art and the French crafts of high standards, different cultures and avant-grade art. It wasn’t just a normal style that reflected adventure, entertainment and leisure but a highly enjoyed taste by all classes of people with different minds after Second World War. It handed down its concepts of design and traditional and modern visual styles to younger generations while at the same time its styles influencing many present-day designers (Hillier & Escritt, 2004).
The Art Deco movement had its beginnings in Paris, at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs which was a showcase for new inspiration and was initially meant to advertise the authority of the French in the creation and manufacturing of luxury goods. With a small, yet faithful following from the early 20th century, Art Deco evolved from nationalism, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Futurism, Neo-Classism, and modernism, and flourished after World War 1, achieving global popularity between the two world wars, primarily in the jazz age of the roaring 20's and 30's. As a result of a civilization ravaged by war and the deprivation and poverty that follows war, intertwined with the hopefulness of the machine age and the new women's liberation
The turmoil and changes that the world has faced over the last one hundred years has brought about some of the most interesting and intricate art styles ever. Some of the most influential artists have also arisen amongst these styles. Artists such as Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, and Jackson Pollack are the leaders in their arts. Art movements and styles such as abstract expressionism, surrealism, the Cubist Movement, pop art, and international styles in architecture have been influenced by social life, war, reacting to other art forms, and rebelling. I will talk about these art forms in the following paragraphs.
In the beginning, Surrealism was primarily a literary movement, but it gave artists an access to new subject matter and a process for conjuring it. As Surrealist paintings began to emerge, it divi...
Ian Fletcher author of Aubrey Beardsley by Ian Fletcher claims that Beardsley is not an impressionist, nor an expressionist, but essentially eclectic. " He had no facility, no admiration for nature-pantheism, the superstition of the cultivated classes. (Aubrey Beardsley by Ian Fletcher, p.23). Much of Beardsley’s work does connect directly with literary texts. "Beardsley is indeed much concerned with the reader or viewer, but hardly in the humble facilitating mode of the average illustrator and reader is the precise word. Yet, he does mediate between author and reader, not conducting word into image, but bringing to light rather what implicit, forbidden, or subversive elements of a text so disconcerting the author and forcing the reader to become a voyeur by recognizing in himself what he condemns in others".
Antoni Gaudi and Victor Horta were both huge influences and designers in the Art Nouveau movement. Although they designed buildings that were very different in shape, size and overall appearance, they also had a lot of similar characteristics within their buildings. Some of the influences from the art nouveau movement were baroque, rococo, gothic rococo, and may others.
The art nouveau style evolved throughout Europe and many artists adopted or conformed to the organic style presented. Two stand out artists for me, that I have always had an interest in, are Antonio Gaudi and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Both are regarded as art nouveau artists however they both have very different styles in my eye. In comparision, their lives have many simalarties, with early life influencing the artists they became, and the legact they both leave behind. In this essay I am going to compare their lives, styles, influences and legacies.
Arts and Crafts: This movement was similar to the Art Nouveau, although it began in Great Britain in the late 19th Century. In architecture, the style advocated a return to the Gothic architecture in order to restore the values missing in the industrialized world. “Perhaps nowhere else does art and architecture capture this vernacular and cultural landscape as perfectly as is the case in New Mexico.” (Cummings, 2001, p. 8)
They all stressed the importance of handmade, decorative, ornamental and functional designs. William Morris started the movement as a reaction against the machine and stressed the importance of working with your hands. He didn’t see the beauty in mechanically produced things and neither did Art nouveau artists and Modernista architects. They all collectively stressed the importance of new never before seen structures and styles that would inspire people and bring beauty to a world that was becoming bland and repetitive.
In conclusion, the art of the 19th century was composed of a sequence of competing artistic movements that sought to establish its superiority, ideologies and style within the artistic community of Europe. These movements, being Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, ultimately spread far beyond the confines of Europe and made modern art an international entity which can still be felt in today’s artistic world.