Art Nouveau, 1890-1914

by Paul Greenhalgh

Art Nouveau exploded onto the art and design scene in the early 1890s and spread rapidly throughout the Western world. This lush volume-created to accompany a major museum exhibition that opened at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, before moving to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in October 2000-is the most beautiful, complete, and wide-ranging study ever published on this enormously popular and influential style. A wealth of illustrations and rare period photographs showcase masterpieces in all mediums-from Tiffany lampshades, Mucha posters, Klimt paintings, and Lalique jewelry to architecture by Victor Horta, Antoni Gaud, and Louis Sullivan. The text, by 20 leading scholars, is a timely reappraisal of a style that flourished at the turn of the last century, in a world grappling with new ideas and rapid social change. Decadent yet popular, both loved and hated, Art Nouveau gave rise to the concept of an all-encompassing "lifestyle environment"-a total work of art designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience. This season's most scintillating art book, Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 will be unrivaled for years to come. PAUL GREENHALGH is head of research at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Former head of art history at Camberwell College of Art, he is the author of several books and articles, and a contributor to Abrams' A Grand The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. He lives in London. 507 illustrations, 407 in full color, 496 pages, 81/4 x 93/4"

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, History, Design

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2000

About the author

Paul Greenhalgh is Head of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He is an expert on the Art Nouveau period and a leading scholar in the field of decorative arts.

Reviews

[Maria Lago · Rating 4 out of 5]

A huge hardcover of over 500 pages that I never intend to read... It was present, a very generous one. We went to visit the amazing exhibition at the Victoria and Albert in 2000 and what can I possibly say. That such beauty was man-made filled me with hope (oh, that's long gone, but the memory of it lingers).
I do not doubt the scholars who wrote the articles did a great job at describing and analyzing and synthesizing and maybe even explaining Art Nouveau. But I couldn't give a fig. Intead, I oogle at the pictures again and again... such exquisiteness!
An amazing, beautiful, delicate and mesmerizing coffee table book to impress your guests and make you look fabulous. Yey!

[Juli Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely stunning volume that looks at art nouveau as a style and a movement from several different lenses. The first section examines the styles and subject matters that influenced art nouveau; the second takes a material lens and details the advances in various mediums (print, glass, metal, etc.) during this period, highlighting exemplary work along the way; and finally the last section looks at the forms this movement took in various nations throughout this period. For anyone interested in art nouveau, this volume is the place to start; the information is scholarly, but accessible, and the photographs are gorgeous.

[Kali_sapientia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lush

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is THE book to get if you've even a passing interest in Art Nouveau. Most Americans, I find, are familiar with only a fairly narrow range of the wider international movement, so what I particularly liked about this book is that it discusses (and wonderfully illustrates) the lesser-known (by Americans) eastern European branches of Art Nouveau, usually called "secessionist" or "jugendstil," particularly in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest.

A few words on the origins of the book: it's the result of a Victoria & Albert museum project, which means that it's both extensively researched as well as beautifully and copiously illustrated. The the first section of the book is devoted to the origins and development of Art Nouveau, with particular reference to the Orient and North Africa as sources of inspiration, but also with the movement's connections to literary styles and preceding "natural" art. The second section addresses Art Nouveau's characteristic materials -- metal, paper, glass, textiles, wood -- with chapters written by specialists in ceramics, jewelry making, sculpture, and so on. The third section is an exploration of a dozen or so cities famed for their art nouveau architecture, including a few places that might not immediately spring to mind, such as Glasgow and Helsinki. I originally bought the book after a trip to Vienna and Munich, whose jugendstil beauties are well chronicled in this book. Other cities I've visited which the book discusses are Paris (of course), Barcelona, New York, and Moscow; a few cities discussed that I haven't been to include Brussels, Turin, and Prague. For lovers of stained glass, there's also a chapter on Louis Comfort Tiffany.

This is a fairly expensive book, but there are some reasonably priced copies to be had second-hand. I think I paid some ridiculously low price online through a used book site. At 500-some pages and weighing in at something like ten pounds, this definitely falls into the coffee table book category, but it's a serious coffee table book, filled with as much scholarship as pretty photos. Highly recommended.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The head of the research department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Peter Greenhalgh, curated this excellent show focusing on the decorative and fine art movement which swept Europe and the US at the turn of the last century. It first exhibited in London, then the following year he brought it to the National Gallery, Washington, D.C. (I wrote previously about the smaller exhibit publication.) Greenhalgh had been invited by a Committee of Friends of Modern Art at The Detroit Institute of Arts to give a free lecture, open to the public, at the DIA and hosted a seminar At Cranbrook Academy of Art sponsored by their Modern Decorative Arts Group and the Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the DIA. At the opening of the show in DC several scholars who contributed to the publication collaborated on a full day symposium. When events such as this pop up I stay at the Hotel Lombardy within walking distance of the museum. I must be repeating myself. Its a great big, gorgeous book produced for a great big, gorgeous show.