1. Identify the characteristics of Art Nouveau Style.

Art Nouveau is an ornamental style of art that flourished in Europe and the United
States between 1890 and 1910. It is known by different names, such as Glasgow Style,
or Jugendstil, in German. It was a deliberate effort to establish a new style, away from the
imitative historicism that influenced most of the art and architecture of the 19th century. It
rebelled against structured, classical architecture approaches. Designers sought to
humanize unnaturally tall, box-shaped buildings using floral motifs that implied the natural
world. It is a metaphor for the independence and liberation desired by its practitioners
from the weight of artistic custom and critical standards.
CHARACTERISTICS:
• use of long, sinuous, organic lines
• undulating asymmetrical lines
• taking the form of flower stalks, buds, vine tendrils and insect wings
• delicate and sinuous natural objects
• elegant and graceful
• infused with a powerfully rhythmic and whip-like force
• form engulfed in organic and linear rhythm
• a fusion between structure and ornament
• employed a liberal combination of materials—ironwork, glass, ceramic, and
brickwork
• creation of unified interiors
• columns and beams became thick vines with spreading tendrils
• windows became membranous outgrowths of the organic whole
• directly opposed to the traditional architectural values of reason and clarity of
structure
• Asymmetrical shapes
• Extensive use of arches and curved forms
• Curved glass
• Curving, plant-like embellishments
• Mosaics
• Stained glass
• inspiration from both organic and geometric forms
• elegant designs that united flowing, natural forms
• emphasis on linear contours took precedence over color
• whiplash” curves were derived, in part, from botanical studies
• Sinuous lines from illustrations of deep-sea organisms
• drew upon elements of Japanese art
• stylized motifs derived from nature and fantasy
• use of glass and wrought iron brings sculptural elements to Art Nouveau
structures
 • applying artistic designs to everyday objects
• no separation in principle between fine art (painting and sculpture) and applied or
decorative arts (ceramics, furniture, and other practical objects)

2. Differentiate the styles of Gaudi, Mckintosh and Horta.

Antoni Gaudí
The Spanish architect and sculptor Antoni Gaudí was probably the most original
artist in the movement. He was very much inspired by Art-Nouveau. As a result, the
architect played with modern materials and new forms. This period of architectural
stimulation was crucial in helping him to give up imitating more historic styles and to finally
find his own. He went further than the dependence on line to transform buildings into
curved, bulbous, brightly colored, organic constructions. Gaudí's work surely matches the
rest of the movement, but he still used unusual techniques and methods compared to
other architects of the style. He was also influenced by Neo-Gothic and organic styles.
Gaudí’s work is best characterized as free-flowing, full of curving organic shapes
that are vivid and exuberant. He has an immense passion for nature, animals and plants.
He designed buildings that appeared to manipulate nature-based types in order to create
flowing and lavish structures. His works include elements that come from nature, but shift
into the world of the imagination. You can see echoes of familiar shapes and creatures,
such as parts of trees, branches, lizards and bones. He also used bright, undulating tile
work in a method called trencadis, a Catalan word meaning broken or cracked. In
trencadis, broken pieces of ceramics or thick dinner plates have been recycled and used
as mosaic pieces to cover surfaces with vivid decorative designs. Nature and religion
greatly influenced each of his designs.
But it's in the details where Gaudí's architecture truly shines. The materials used
by Gaudí are also characteristic of his style. His most characteristic mediums include
wood, wrought iron, ceramics, stone, tiles, bricks and stained glass. Each of those are
seamlessly intertwined to tell a story of life, death, and the faith in between. Gaudí was
constantly inventing creative solutions. As an example, Gaudí used broken tiles for
technical and financial reasons. Square tiles could not match such a wavy shape in his
constructions. On top of that, square tiles would have been too expensive. He found it
was cheaper to use broken tiles from the ceramics fabrics, with the benefit that could be
a better fit for his designs.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect and designer who was a
leader of the Glasgow style in Great Britain. Art nouveau in Britain was known as Glasgow
style. Although European Modernist contemporaries said that they sought to break with
tradition, lavish materials often pointed back to the wealth and elitism from which they
wished to dis-associate. Mackintosh on the other hand, achieved a humble simplicity in
design - both for the exterior and the interior furnishings of buildings - and sought for,
above all, integrity of materials and harmony of space. Indeed, taste not wealth was
always a key focus for Mackintosh.
Both the interior and exterior spaces designed by Mackintosh sing of serenity,
spirituality, and of rigorous attention to detail. He integrated a multitude of curves with
straight lines but did so without the same ostentation, opulence, and grandeur. Although
an architect working with colossal and hard materials, he typically brought intimacy and
softness to all that he designed and built. His symbolist architectural style is one infused
with the restraint and minimalism of Japonism, as well as fine delicacy and a love for floral
motifs shared with his long-term partner and artistic collaborator, Margaret Macdonald.
His designs for furniture, buildings and interiors were wildly original. It is divergent
from everything that is familiar. Fusing the sinuous forms of art nouveau with rugged Scots
baronial motifs and exotic Japanese touches made his and his wife’s designs a startling
sight. He has a penchant for garish color schemes. He was never one for half measures.
His designs for a basement dug-out at the Willow Tea Rooms depict a jazzy optical art
scheme with bright yellow furniture, purple cushions and mesmerizing grids covering the
walls.

Victor Horta
Victor Horta was a Belgian designer and decorator who was considered the main
pioneer of the Art Nouveau architectural style. Horta is famous for the translation of the
style from the decorative arts into architecture in the early 1890s. He made exceptional
use of stone, steel and glass, combining intertwined curves and double curves, such as
flower stems; the beauty of his work is still admired today.
Horta's work in Art Nouveau is marked by a keen understanding of the capabilities
of industrial advances with iron and glass as structure and infill. He used iron both
structurally and decoratively to create an open and airy floorplan. His buildings disclose
an honest handling of their materials' properties, particularly the ability of iron to be twisted
and bent into hairpin forms that extend seamlessly into the accompanying décor, inside
and out, making the buildings "total works of art."
Victor Horta's art is characterized by his respect for certain principles. He builds
bright buildings using glass walls with plant motifs. He joins ironwork made of scrolls and
arabesques to facades and balconies and also uses marble and different types of wood.
He incorporated interior iron structure with curvilinear botanical forms, later described as
“biomorphic whiplash”. Each work is unique and he tirelessly revises his original plans to
meet the needs of each commission and achieve perfection.
 Over time, he tried out other materials, giving his constructions a more Cubist
appearance. Horta was an adaptable architect who transitioned from Art Nouveau to other
styles such as Art Deco as public tastes dictated. Though Horta was respected during his
lifetime for his brilliance with Art Nouveau, he himself predicted the style's own demise
and that many of his works would be demolished eventually.

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