Art with Amruta… Art Nouveau 

Hi all!!Look around you and NOTICE NATURE!!

Flowers ,trees,buds ,leaves…One can’t HELP but BE inspired…

In the late 1890s ,artists in Europe were coming out of the classical mould and painting ORGANIC forms.. tendrils blossoming flowers ,intertwining branches…

A beautiful art form was emerging.. using lines to outline….and soft pastel shades…ART NOUVEAU!

Art Nouveau was the NEW art.. it probably started with a POSTER announcing a play made by a Czech Artist… 

ALPHONSE MUCHA…in 1895….in Paris. The poster was simple but DIFFERENT 

And beautiful…!!!

Soon  MUCHA became synonymous with Art Nouveau…called also
MUCHA ART!!

Ethereal women in long flowing gowns surrounded by flowers , curvaceous flowing lines…

Have a look…

GUSTAV KLIMT…an Austrian painter also painted in this art nouveau style…..
His painting ‘The Kiss’ created quite a stir with its use of gold leaf

And eroticism ..

KLIMT painted way ahead of his time ..drawing from nature to create a beautiful piece of work…Have a look at some of his other paintings…

Who was THIS woman??? 

A lady by the name of……Adele Block Bauer..!

The one  of her in  gold sold for a jaw dropping  sum of 139 million US dollars.. in 2006! One of the 3 most  EXPENSIVE paintings ever sold at that time!!!

Coupled with these inspirations from nature .. was the desire to DECORATE FUNCTIONAL
things…

One could easily have a beautiful room with a portrait … but imagine ART etched into the DOORWAY, on banisters of a STAIRCASE , on  WALLPAPER…..

..floral motifs , Butterflies, birds….!!

These  MOTIFS were created even on lamps…..by LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY …each lamp
made of stained glass… ‘the TIFFANY LAMP!’

Each…….a piece of art nouveau !

An aptly termed’WISTERIA’ lamp above

And a cheerful ceiling lamp below….

 So Art Nouveau was almost an APPLIED ART form.. artists and artisans taking their own sweet time to produce things of beauty …with a high level of craftsmanship 
NO mass production…

Each Art piece or ARTEFACT stamped with uniqueness…

At the same time …
No longer was art confined to elitist clubs and galleries .. It was RIGHT  OUT in the STREETS…. 

Reaching out to ALL….!

Here it is … 

at the entrance of the PARIS METRO….

….made by architect Hector Guimard…

And here  an  Art Nouveau building in Paris…..

And here  is  RIGA    ….,the capital city of LATVIA.  …home to the ‘MOST  ‘number of Art Nouveau buildings in the world……..!

Goodness gracious!!

Art Nouveau spread crazily across the globe …and was  called different names everywhere… example ….. JUGENSTIL in Germany !
In Glasgow … it took on different hues .. but stuck to the theme of beauty and function…here is the PRINCES Square building…

And the library of the Glasgow School of Art….

Followed by …

Some  Glaswegian art nouveau furniture and stained glass reliefs….

Despite 
Art Nouveau being so creatively beautiful this art form LASTED JUST 15 years……till 1905….

Making way for the futurists .. brandishing their art manifestos ,the fauvists ,the cubists…. of course it was back with a bang in the 1960s and remains around till the present day… 

FUNCTIONAL  yet  BEAUTIFUL!

BEAUTIFUL  yet  FUNCTIONAL!!

Take the case of this distempered distressed COFFEE TABLE ..woodwork etched with floral motifs…So-art nouveau …! BEAUTIFUL !!

Doubling up as a chest/storage space for linen / blankets… wow…FUNCTIONAL too!

And when beauty and function done with..

How about…

…… using as Meditation Bench???

……FULL NIRVANA!!!
Byyyyeeee!