Art Nouveau

By the late 19th century, London remained stuck in its historicist styles despite its thirst for innovation. This wasn't the case in Paris, Brussels or Barcelona where a new generation of designers wanted to create a fresh decorative language. It was called Art Nouveau (New Art) and by the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901, this new style had advanced across Europe, New York and Chicago.
These designers were influenced from the previous movements, Rococo in France, Celtic art, Japanese art, Egyptian art and mostly nature. Art Nouveau became an international style but it was also known with different names in different countries, such as:

- Sezessionstil in Vienna, Austria
- Jugenstil in Germany (meaning 'young style')
- Stile Liberty in Italy (meaning 'liberty style')

Art Nouveau was highly influenced from the Arts and Crafts movement by the use of nature. Designers from the Vienna Secession such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Josef Maria Olbrich, introduced abstracted naturalistic forms to design that were curvilinear while other artists pioneered the use of whiplash motifs.

Whiplash curves

Art Nouveau's style included swerving lines having many curves and turns often with floral characters. This famous image shows a piece of work done by the Belgian architect Victor Horta. Horta got inspired after the exhibition held in 1892 and was commissioned to design a home for the professor Emile Tassel which he transfused it into the Hotel Tassel in 1893 (the image on the side).

Art Nouveau designers objected to borrow design ideas from previous periods and from other cultures, although the Japanese approach to nature was much admired and emulated. One of the major ways that these designers created a modern look was to take inspiration from art forms outside Europe. Japanese art and culture was profoundly influential on European design after 1853 when Japan opened itself to the West.

The original Japanese art compared to an imitation of it looking more like pop art.

A major step that made a huge impact was the invention of the incandescent light bulb in 1879 by Thomas Edison. Electricity lit up the streets of New York and Art Nouveau's whiplash line that suggested a pulsing electric wave which dominated the style in the following decades.

Later on, in 1908 was invented the first automobile the 'Model T' by Henry Ford (image below). In 1903, Ford proclaimed that he will built a car for the great multitude and five years later he not only built a car but he was also the owner of the Ford Motor Company which is still running in the present.

An important artist in this era was Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Together with his wife Margaret MacDonald they worked on multiple projects. They introduced the balance of opposites in their designs by using light with dark and modern with tradition. The below image shows a number of chairs designed by Mackintosh where he combined the Gothic and modern style.

References:

Beau Preston, 2013. The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. [image online] Available at: http://beauyfett.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/the-great-wave/ [Accessed 1st November 2013]

Andreas Ramos, 2008. Hohusai (1760-1849). [image online] Available at: http://andreas.com/hokusai.html [Accessed 27th October 2013]

Unesco, 2000. Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta. [image online] Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1005 [Accessed 26th October 2013]

The Franklin Institute, 2013. Edison's Lightbulb. [image online] Available at: http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/edison-lightbulb/edison-lightbulb.php?cts=electricity [Accessed 26th October 2013]

New World Encyclopedia, 2012. Art Nouveau. [online] Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Art_Nouveau [Accessed 26th October 2013]

Time Lists, n.d. 1909 Ford Model T. [image online] Available at: http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1657686_1657663,00.html [Accessed 26th October 2013]

Cari, 2009. Design Icons of the 20th Century. [image online] Available at: http://www.sketchmyworld.com/design-icons-20th-century-pt-1/ [Accessed 26th October 2013]

Ferebee, A. and Byles, J. 2011. A History Of Design From The Victorian Era To The Present. Second Edition. New York; Litton Education Publishing.

Escritt, S. 2000. Art Nouveau. New York; Phaidon Press Limited.

Victorian Design

Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837. It was a period when the Industrial Revolution was coming to an end and it was the early years of the Arts and Crafts movement. It is known that until Queen Victoria's death in 1901, the powerful engines of the new economy like the power lathes, printed works and textile mills, remade England as the "workshop of the world". The Victorian era saw a great change in the middle class home as goods became more available for the general population.

Since there were mass-produced products, catalogs started being printed and arriving in the hands of the consumers. Because of all this, on May 1st in 1840 the first postage stamp was introduced. It was called "the penny black" as it used to cost one penny including a portrait of the Queen Victoria.

The Victorian style was eclectic or cluttered. Homes were filled with big furniture and excessive amounts of ornaments. This style later influenced Art Nouveau but in a less stylised manner. Victorian design was also influenced from the gothic and rococo, and the industrial revolution meant that new techniques and materials were available.

Victorian style

Art Nouveau style

In the mean time during the Victorian era, in America there were also the inventions of new ideas. The "Sholes & Glidden Type Writer" was invented in 1868 by the gunmakers E. Remington & Sons in New York. It was not a great success, not more than 5,000 were sold, but it brought mechanisation to time consuming office work.

Another first in America was the roller coaster. The roller coaster was already invented in Paris in 1804 and it was called the "Russian Mountains", but in America it arrived in 1884 designed and built specifically as an amusement ride at Coney Island, New York. This roller coaster was 600 foot long, from point-to-point (not a continuous loop) and worked only with the aid of gravity.

The fist typewriter

The first American roller coaster

With these inventions the economy spawned a growing gulf between the rich and the poor, as design became a flashpoint for debate. This is where the London architect and designer William Morris stepped in. He wanted to turn back the clock to when artisans could be proud of their hand-tooled products and not just cogs in a machine. Morris himself stated that "Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is hatred of modern civilisation". About William Morris it was discussed better in the Arts and Crafts Movement previously.

Whatever these clashes had brought with them, in her sixty four year reign Queen Victoria presided over and gave her name to one of the most transformative periods in the design history.

References:

Anon, 2000. Victorian Homes. [image online] Available at: http://www.victorianbazaar.com/homes.html [Accessed 26th October 2013]

Ana Duovska, n.d. 22Classy Art Nouveau Interior Design Ideas. [image online] Available at: http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/22-classy-art-nouveau-interior-design-ideas/ [Accessed 26th October 2013]

Randy Alfred, 2009. Queen Victoria Gets Stamped. [image online] Available at: http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/05/dayintech_0506/ [Accessed 25th October 2013]

Darryl Rehr, n.d. The First Typewriter. [online] Available at: http://home.earthlink.net/~dcrehr/firsttw.html [Accessed 25th October 2013]

Tony Long, 2008. A Technology With Plenty Ups and Downs. [online] Available at: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/06/dayintech_0616 [Accessed 25th October 2013]

Ferebee, A., Byles, J. 2011. A History Of Design From Victorian Era To The Present. Second Edition. New York: Litton Educational Publishing.

Arts and Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the most influential movement in the design industry. This movement was founded late in the 19th century by theorists, architects and designers in Britain under Queen Victoria. William Morris and John Ruskin were the two main founders of this movement. They were both architects and not only wanted to reform design but to give quality once more to the work process itself. The aim of creating this movement was to re-establish a harmony between architects, designers and craftsmen and to bring hand craftsmanship to the production of well-designed, affordable everyday objects.

A.W.N. Pugin (Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin), was an architect, designer and a writer who loved the Gothic style. Becoming a Catholic in 1835, he believed that the Gothic style reflected the order and stability of the Christian faith. For this reason, Pugin rejected the early Victorian vogue for Classical architecture in favour of a revival of medieval Gothic. His definition of the two great rules of for design defined the real nature of Gothic and were to to become the most important influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. These were:
- There should be no features about a building which are not necessary for convenience, construction or property,
- That all ornament should consist of the essential construction of the building.

Pugin's dream of re-uniting designers and craftsmen and in broader terms the spiritual with the everyday, was taken up by Ruskin and Morris.

Ruskin together with Morris wanted to produce beautiful things made with craftsmanship and not machine mass produced. Morris's designs included plants and later on birds' detailing and wanted to show the natural beauty of materials.

Christopher Dresser was an industrial designer at this time and he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity it offered to make good design available at a cheaper price. The image below shows an electroplate teapot (1878/9) which explains Christopher's choice of using electroplated silver instead of solid silver.

References:

British Museum, n.d. Electroplate Teapot. [image online] Available at: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/e/electroplate_teapot,_designed.aspx [Accessed 23rd October 2013]

Anon, n.d. Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. [image online] Available at: http://www.explore-parliament.com/nssMovies/01/0154/0154_.htm [Accessed 23rd October 2013]

V&A, 2013. The Arts & Crafts Movement. [online] Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-arts-and-crafts-movement/ [Accessed 23rd October 2013]

Cumming, E. and Kaplan, W., 1991. The Arts and Cradts Movement. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

The Industrial Revolution

During the 18th century up till the first half of the 19th century, the world was dominated by the Industrial Revolution. By this time the world's population increased over 6-fold while the world's average per capita income increased over 10-fold. This lead to great advances in technology.

Started in Britain, there was a change in the previously manual labour and the use of animals, to machine-based manufacturing. Textile industries were among the first to use machines, where then moved on to the development of iron and refined coal. Canals, railways and improved roads were introduced as a better usage of transport.

During the early years of the Industrial Revolution the water wheel was the main form of power. Like the example below, the wheel is being rotated by the river/stream. As the wheel rotates the shaft running through its centre will be used to power machines through a range of pulleys.

Later on in 1775, the Scottish mechanical engineer James Watt had invented the steam engine which improved the power, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of previous engines. Due to lack of finance, Watt joined Matthew Boulton to create a firm and was then a wealthy successful man. The steam engine made a huge impact in this era as it was used in the production industries.

The image shows the model on which Watt used to test his designs.

As seen in the image below, children used to work with machines by risking to get injured easily and this also helped to drive down the price of cotton production.

In 1819, Alexandrina Victoria was born who nineteen years later in 1838 she was coronated the Queen of Great Britain. Queen Victoria made an impact in the Arts & Crafts movement later in the 19th century.

In 1843 the Victorian era had already began in its early stages whereas in this same year the famous novel 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens was published. It was a period where there was a strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions and an initiation of new practices like the Christmas tree. This tale had also be criticised as an indicment of the 19th century industrial capitalism.

References:

Ryan. V, 2009. The Water Wheel. [image online] Available at: http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/wtrwhl1.htm [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

atepperm, 2012. Queen Victoria. [image online] Available at: http://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/victorian-women-on-drugs-part-1-queen-victoria/ [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

princtone, n.d. Industrial Revolution. [online] Available at: 

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Industrial_Revolution.html [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

Megan Popow, n.d. Inequality Caused By The Industrial Revolution. [images online] Available at: 

http://www.personal.psu.edu/mep229/Assignment6.html [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

Mary Bellis, 2013. Captivity Of Steam. [image online] Available at: 

http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventors/a/JamesWatt.htm [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

Gutenberg, n.d. A Christmas Carol. [online] Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

The Gothic Revival

The Gothic Revival was born in England in 1749 and its aim was to romanticize the medieval times.This style wasn't as popular as the Greek or Italian styles but it often revealed itself in many churches. Its popularity though had risen in the early 19th century in Britain and Europe, in America through the 1890s and churches around the world through the 1940s. During these years there were also the Victorian era and the Arts & Crafts movement which will be discussed later on.

The Gothic style was influenced by steeply pitched roofs, crosses, pointed-arch windows and stained glass in most churches. Most of the buildings were constructed having symmetrical facades and interiors, and long straight lines.

The image represents the old New York University building having a Gothic style designed by Alexander Jackson Davis who was an artist famous for this style.

An architectural landmark that is still very popularly known nowadays is the Westminster Palace in London. The Palace of Westminster was originally built in the early 11th century under the King Canute and it was then demolished in 1834 due to fire.

Between 1840-1870 it was rebuilt in a Gothic style which transformed its previous medieval style.

From 97 entries for the proposal of the new design of this palace, Sir Charles Barry had won this competition. Barry's design was a Perpendicular Gothic style and was in harmony with the buildings that survived the fire. 

                                                                                                     

                                                                                                The Palace of Westminster, exterior

Augustus Welby Pugin was a 23-year-old Roman Catholic architect and draughtsman who took care of the interior decoration as seen in the image on the side.

"Westminster's new design was so successful that it not only influenced the designs of town halls, law courts and schools throughout the British Empire, but it also came to be recognized globally as an architectural masterpiece."(someinterestingfacts.net, 2013)

Westminster’s new design was so successful that it not only influenced the designs of town halls, law courts and schools throughout the British Empire, but it also came to be recognized globally as an architectural masterpiece.

Although nowadays we are surrounded by more styles, we can still find Gothic designed buildings. The image below shows a 25,000 square feet castle that has been built recently in New York (date not specified).

 The other image below shows the hall of this castle that includes pointed arched apertures and the staircase constructed from oak wood with spiral balustrade. One can also notice the gothic chair and the carpet heraldic style.

The interior design was done by Alexa Hampton and architectural design by James Nigro.

In Malta we also have buildings that were designed around this time and built in a Gothic style. One of which is the chapel found in the cemetery of St. Mary Addolorata as seen in the images below. It has a symmetrical facade with pointed arched apertures and straight lines. This cemetery was designed by Emanuel Galizia who had researched into the English and European cemetery designs before embarking onto this.

 

References:

Jill A Strykowski, 2010. Gothic Revival Architecture. [image online] Available at: https://files.nyu.edu/jas1028/public/NYU_Building/Old%20NYU%20Building_Home.html [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

Lynn Byrne, n.d. Gothic Revival Style Today. [images online] Available at: 
http://www.decorartsnow.com/2009/11/30/november-30-2009-gothic-revival-style-today/ [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

Anon, 2011. Gothic Revival. [online] Available at: http://architecturestyles.org/gothic-revival/ [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

Anon, 2013. Westminster Palace History. [online] Available at: http://someinterestingfacts.net/westminster-palace-history/ [Accessed 22nd October 2013]

Jacqueline Banerjee, 2011. The Addolorata Chapel and Cemetery. [online] Available at: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/galizia/5.html [Accessed22nd October 2013]