Art nouveau : 1890-1914
(Book)

Originally published: London : V&A, 2000.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 441-448) and indexes.

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. -- from Amazon.