On View Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 91

“new art” in French, Art Nouveau introduced specific deviations from established visual styles. While the translation of the phrase art nouveau is straightforward, the movement as a whole was in fact, complex. Depending on the region, the Art Nouveau style was expressed by artists in diverse ways. Art Nouveau was even referred to differently in the various countries where it developed. The designation “Art Nouveau,” which is most often used today, was first coined in Belgium. The label was popularized because it was used in the name of an important gallery in Paris, Maison de l’Art Nouveau, owned by the German art dealer, Siegfried Bing, who propagated this new style. Almost every area of art and architecture was included in the repertoire of Art Nouveau. Not only were paintings, sculptures, and buildings created in the style, but items that fall under the heading of the applied arts, such as furniture, ceramics, utilitarian glass objects, and textiles, were produced as well. Flowing, organic lines in an asymmetrical composition, often coupled with large flat patterns of color, typify the look that was embodied by Mucha’s version of the Art Nouveau style. The sinuous lines and asymmetry found in Mucha’s work are characteristic of the earlier Rococo and Neo-Rococo styles, both of which had an impact on Art Nouveau artists in Belgium and France, especially in the design of furniture. MUCHA: Master Artist of Art Nouveau Alphonse Mucha, Cocorico, February 1899; Collection of Patrick M. Rowe.