As the 1800s came to a close, while the Second Industrial Revolution was increasing the pace of commercial product with electricity and assembly lines, a generation with new ideals and responses came into adulthood, similar to today’s Millennials. The cultural changes spawned by the industrial changes were seen as signs of cultural degeneration, lending to an overall sense of societal pessimism. The psycho-physiology (later shortened to psychology) and philosophy of the pessimists & geniuses vs. optimists and fools were the moral debates of the hour. A backlash to the changes can be seen in the supported trends of emotionalism, irrationalism, and symbolism; while materialism, rationalism, and positivity were all dismissed.
Art, in all its forms, was a platform for exploring psychology and symbolism, the Romantic trend of using the physical to represent inner self was discarded in favor of using symbolism or connotations to explore everything, even the perverse or immoral, without passing judgement of the explored topic. The Arts-and-Craft movement earlier in the century was inspiring a return to nature’s beauty, which the pessimism about society’s degeneration was encouraging as well.
Within this pessimistic and yet curious society, several different art movements took place across Europe, from the Art Nouveau in France to the Catalian Modernisme to Italy’s Stile Liberty. They are diverse styles, but they all share the cultural origin point, an impact on the local architecture, and yet a relatively short life span.
Art Nouveau lasted a mere twenty years, from 1890–1910, it was inspired by the English Arts-and-Craft movement and Japonism, particularly as a wave of interest had swept Europe following Japan’s reopening at the end of the Edo period in 1868. It takes some of its stylistic hallmarks from these styles.
Curving lines — gracefully curving lines of any type were a defining aspect of the style. Curved lines were often used to achieve asymmetry in the design as well. Hyperbola and parabola curves were used for doorways and windows in architecture.
Natural Inspiration — the use of nature motifs was inspired by the Arts-and-Craft movement, and the naturally curving lines of flames, shells, and grasses especially caught on.
Simple (relatively) patterns — compositions had been intense for a large part of the 19th century, Art Nouveau revoked this complication, often using simple repetition of lines and colors instead, again inspired by the Arts-and-Craft movement.
Bold colors — part of the Japonism influence, with their strongly colored woodblock printings.
