Art Novueau

Art Novueau

Antonio Gaudi was born in Reus, Spain in 1852. He studied at the Escola Superior d'Arquitectura in Barcelona and designed his first major commission for the Casa Vincens in Barcelona using a Gothic Revival style that set a precedent for his future work.

Over the course of his career, Gaudi developed a sensuous, curving, almost surreal design style which established him as the innovative leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau movement. With little regard for formal order, he juxtaposed unrelated systems and altered established visual order. Gaudi's characteristically warped form of Gothic architecture drew admiration from other avant-garde artists.

Although categorized with the Art Nouveau, Gaudi created an entirely original style. He died in Barcelona in 1926.

Castel Beranger, at Paris, France, 1890 (circa).

Hotel Guimard, at Paris, France, 1912.

Paris Metro Entrances, at Paris, France, 1899 to 1905.

Hector Guimard was born in Lyon, France in 1867. After studying for three years at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and for four years at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, he established his own practice.

Guimard created unassuming and somewhat conventional early works, but after familiarizing himself with some of the architectural theories circulating in the late 1800s, he began to produce some exceptional avant-garde works. The radical ideas of Viollet-Le-Duc and the sinuous architecture of Victor Horta particularly influenced his designs.

Guimard's visit to Horta's Hotel Tassel in 1895 acted as a catalyst to his creativity and inspired a radical re-evaluation of his design approach. Indeed, Guimard's ensuing projects proclaimed the emergence of le style Guimard.. The fluid, curvilinear lines that characterize Guimard's designs became synonymous with the Art Nouveau movement.

Guimard died in New York in 1942.

Glasgow School of Art, at Glasgow, Scotland, 1897 to 1909.

Hill House, at Helensburgh, Scotland, 1902 to 1903.

The Willow Tea Rooms, at Glasgow, Scotland, 1902 to 1904.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1868. In 1884 he began an apprenticeship with John Hutchinson and began attending evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art. In 1889 he became an architectural assistant with Honeyman & Keppie. He also enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art. In 1890 he won a travelling scholarship and toured Italy before settling down into practice.

While enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art, Mackintosh developed an artistic relationship with Margaret MacDonald, Frances Macdonald and Herbert McNair. Known as "The Four", they exhibited posters, furnishings, and a variety of graphic designs in Glasgow, London, Vienna and Turin. These exhibitions helped establish Mackintosh's reputation.

With a design philosophy solidly rooted in Scottish tradition, Mackintosh disregarded the architecture of Greece and Rome as unsuitable for the climate or needs Scotland. He believed that a revival of the Scottish Baronial style, adapted to modern society would meet contemporary needs. His buildings clearly demonstrate this belief.

Mackintosh created buildings notable for the elegance and clarity of their spatial concepts, the skillful exploitation of natural and artificial lighting, and skillful detailing. He felt that each design should work as a whole to which each carefully contrived detail contributes.

In 1913 Mackintosh left the firm of Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh where he had been a partner since 1904. After unsuccessfully trying to establish his own practice, he dedicated his time to landscape painting. He returned to England in 1927 for treatment of cancer of the tongue.

An outstanding architect, furniture designer, and painter, who pioneered the Modern Movement in Scotland, Mackintosh's works exist as the greatest flowering of the British Arts & Crafts movement in either Scotland or England. Mackintosh died in London in 1928.

Bloemenwerf House, at Uccle, near Brussels, Belgium, 1895 to 1896.

Werkbund Theater, at Cologne, Germany, 1914.

Henry van de Velde was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1863. Influenced by his admiration for Rusking, Morris and Voysey, he redirected his efforts as a designer.

In 1901 Van de Velde was invited to Weimar as consultant to the craft industries of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. Five years later he became director and designer of the new Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts which he based on Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art.

Van de Velde adhered to the Utopian idea that architects could reform society through design. He believed that 'Ugliness corrupts not only the eyes, but also the heart and mind'.

Borrowing from his own Flemish background and the English Arts & Crafts movement, Van de Velde developed a highly detailed, style. Using concrete as an expressive element, he created ornamental designs and ornate interiors which directly influenced the Art Nouveau movement.

Van de Velde left Germany when World War II broke out. He died in Oberagen, Switzerland in 1957.

Boomer Residence, at Phoenix, Arizona, 1953.

Coonley House, at Riverside, Illinois, 1908.

D. D. Martin House, at Buffalo, New York, 1904.

Ennis House, at Los Angeles, California, 1923.

Fallingwater, at Ohiopyle, (Bear Run), Pennsylvania, 1934 , 1938, 1948.

Guggenheim Museum, at New York, New York, 1956 to 1959.

Hanna Residence, at Palo Alto, California, 1936.

Imperial Hotel, at Tokyo, Japan, 1916 to 1922.

Jacobs House, Madison, at Madison, Wisconsin, 1936.

Jacobs House, Middleton, the Solar Hemicycle, at Middleton, Wisconsin, 1944.

Johnson Wax Building, at Racine, Wisconsin, 1936 to 1939.

Larkin Building, at Buffalo, New York, 1904 , demolished 1950.

Marin Civic Center, at San Rafael, California, 1957.

Mrs. G. M. Millard House, at Pasadena, California, 1923.

Pfeiffer Chapel, at Lakeland, Florida, 1938.

Price Residence, at Paradise Valley, Arizona, 1954.

Price Tower, at Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 1952 to 1956.

Robie Residence, at Chicago, Illinois, 1909.

Rosenbaum House, at Florence, Alabama, 1939.

Storer Residence, at Los Angeles, California, 1923.

Taliesin, at Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1911 and 1925.

Taliesin West, at Scottsdale, Arizona, 1937 onward.

Wingspread, at Wind Point, Wisconsin, 1937.

Unitarian Meeting House, at Madison, Wisconsin, 1947 to 1951.

Unity Temple, at Oak Park, Illinois, 1906.

W. E. Martin House, at Oak Park, Illinois, 1903.

Walker Residence, at Carmel, California, 1948.

Ward Willits House, at Highland Park, Illinois, 1902.

Zimmerman House, at Manchester, New Hampshire, 1950.

Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin in 1867. He and his family settled in Madison, Wisconsin in 1877. He was educated at Second Ward School, Madison from 1879 to 1883. After a brief sting at the University of Wisconsin where he took some mechanical drawing and basic mathematics courses, Wright departed for Chicago where he spent several months in J. L. Silsbee's office before seeking employment with Adler and Sullivan.

Wright evolved a new concept of interior space in architecture. Rejecting the existing view of rooms as single-function boxes, Wright created overlapping and interpenetrating rooms with shared spaces. He designated use areas with screening devices and subtle changes in ceiling heights and created the idea of defined space as opposed to enclosed space.

Through experimentation, Wright developed the idea of the prairie house - a long, low building with hovering planes and horizontal emphasis. He developed these houses around the basic crucifix, L or T shape and utilized a basic unit system of organization. He integrated simple materials such as brick, wood, and plaster into the designs.

Although he produced few works during the 1920s, Wright theoretically began moving in a new direction that would lead to some of his greatest works.

Walter Burley Griffin was among the many notable architects to emerge from the Wright studios. In 1932 Wright established the Taliesin Fellowship - a group of apprentices who did construction work, domestic chores, and design studies. Four years later, he designed and built both Fallingwater and the Johnson Administration Building. These designs re-invigorated Wright's career and led to a steady flow of commissions, particularly for lower middle income housing. Wright responded to the need for low income housing with the Usonian house, a development from his earlier prairie house.

During the last part of his life, Wright produced a wide range of work. Particularly important was Taliesin West, a winter retreat and studio he built in Phoenix, Arizona. He died at Taliesin West in 1959.

The Orchard, at Chorley Wood in Hertfordshire, England, 1899.

Charles F. A. Voysey was born in Yorkshire, England in 1857. He studied with J. P. Seddon until 1874 and then studied for a year under George Devey. He established his own practice in 1882.

Voysey's architectural direction was affected by his deistic upbringing. Voysey used his architecture as a medium in which to express spiritual harmony and order. He designed long, low-roofed houses with coarsely plastered exteriors. These houses were detailed in the magazine Architect and British Architect.

Although theoretically quite different, the simplicity and horizontal emphasis of Voysey's houses were incorrectly distinguished as physical precursors of the International Style. Based on this tenuous connection, Voysey received the RIBA Gold Medal in 1940.

In addition to his buildings, Voysey designed wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a simple Arts & Crafts manner. He died in Winchester, England in 1941.

Hotel van Eetvelde, at Brussels, Belgium, 1895 to 1898.

Lambeaux Sculpture Pavilion, at Brussels, Belgium, 1889.Mattyn House, at Brussels, Belgium, 1890.Tassel House, at Brussels, Belgium, 1892 to 1893.Autrique House, at Brussels, Belgium, 1893.Frison Town House, at Brussels, Belgium, 1894.Winssigner House, at Brussels, Belgium, 1894 to 1903.Hotel Solvay, at 224 Avenue Louise, Brussels, Belgium, 1895 to 1900.Maison du Peuple, Place Emile van de Velde, at Brussels, Belgium, 1896 to 1898.Horta House (now Musee Horta), at Brussels, Belgium, 1898.L'Innovation Department Store, at Rue Nevue, Brussels, Belgium, 1901 to 1903.Belgian Pavilion, International Exposition of Decorative Arts, at Turin, Italy, 1902.Monument to Brahms, at Vienna, Austria, 1902.Grand Bazaar Department Store, at Frankfurt, Germany, 1903 (demolished). Waucquez Department Store, at Brussels, Belgium, 1903 to 1905.Hallet House, at Brussels, Belgium, 1903.Musee des Beaux-Arts, at Tournai, 1903 to 1928.Wolfers Building, at Brussels, Belgium, 1906.Brugmann Hospital, at Jette, Brussels, Belgium, 1906 to 1926.Halle Centrale, Main Railway Station, at Brussels, Belgium, 1914 to 1952.Palaix des Beaux-arts, at Brussels, Belgium, 1920 to 1928.Belgian Pavilion, Exposition des Arts Decoratifs, at Paris, France, 1925.

Victor Horta was born in Ghent, Belgium in 1861. After studying drawing, textiles and architecture at the Ghent Academie des Beaux Arts, he worked in Paris. He returned to Belgium and worked for the classical architect Alphons Balat, before he started his own practice.

Victor Horta created buildings which rejected historical styles and marked the beginning of modern architecture. He conceived modern architecture as an abstract principle derived from relations to the environment, rather than on the imitation of forms. Although the organic forms of Art Nouveau architecture as established by Horta do not meet our standard ideas of modern architecture, Horta generated ideas which became predecessors to the ideas of many modernist.

Horta was a leading Belgium Art Nouveau architect until Art Nouveau lost public favor. At this time he easily assumed the role of a neoclassical designer. Although many of Horta's buildings have been needlessly destroyed, his former assistant Jean Delhaye has worked to preserve what remains of his work. Delhaye has also secured the Horta residence as a permanent museum.

Horta died in Brussels in 1947.

Sezession House, at Vienna, Austria, 1896.

J. M. Olbrich was born in Silesia, Germany in 1867. He studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and won the Rome Prize in his third year. After working in Otto Wagner's office for a short time, he travelled through Europe. When he returned to Vienna he helped form the Secession, an anti-traditionalist forum. Intent on creating "new" art, the Secessionists looked to British architects like Mackintosh and Baillie-Scott for inspiration and direction.

Notable for combining monumentality with delicacy, Olbrich relieved the formality of flat stucco buildings with organic detailing. In 1899 Olbrich was invited by the Grand Duke of Hesse to establish an Artists' Colony at Darmstadt in Germany where he created his own brand of rectilinear, wood-based Art Nouveau. His designs were an inspiration to such initiators of the Modern Movement as Frank Lloyd Wright.

Olbrich died in Dusseldorf in 1908.

Landerbank, at Vienna, Austria, 1883 to 1884.

Majolica House, at Vienna, Austria, 1898 to 1899.

Post Office Savings Bank, at Vienna, Austria, 1904 to 1912.

Otto Wagner was born in Penzing, near Vienna in 1841. He studied at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna, at the Berlin Bauakademie, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In 1894 he supervised and taught at a special school of architecture within the Academy of Fine Arts. Moderne Architecktur, his inaugural address at the school, called for an architecture based exclusively on modern materials and modern construction methods.

In 1890 Wagner designed a new city plan for Vienna, but only his urban rail network was used. This network borrowed from the classical urban monumentality of his early training but adopted the modern construction and functional planning he so adamantly demanded. The buildings within the network exhibited a decorative styling that owed much to the Secession school.

Wagner continued searching for a style which embodied the principles he taught. In his later works he dispensed with almost all ornamentation and used materials in their simplest forms. These works show a simple but effective blending of plan, space and materials.

A highly influential figure in the development of Modern architecture, Wagner died in Vienna in 1918.

Moser House, at Vienna, Austria, 1901 to 1903.

Stoclet Palace, at Brussels, or Bruxelles, Belgium, 1905 to 1911.

Josef Hoffmann was born in Pirnitz, Moravia (now Chechoslovakia) in 1870. He studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Carl von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner, whose theories of a functional, modern architecture profoundly effected his architectural works. He won the Rome prize in 1895 and the following year joined the Wagner's office.

Hoffman established his own office in 1898 and taught at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule from 1899 until 1936. He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, a group of revolutionary artists and architects. He actively supported the group by designing its exhibitions and writing for the magazine Ver Sacrum. In 1903 he helped found the Wiener Werkstate.

Although Hoffman's earliest works belong to a Secessionist tangent of the Art Nouveau, his later works introduced a vocabulary of regular grids and squares. The functional clarity and abstract purity of his later works mark him as an important precursor of the Modern Movement.

A highly individualistic architect and designer, Hoffman's work combined the simplicity of craft production with a refined aesthetic ornament. He died in Vienna in 1956.

Khuner Villa, at on the Kreuzberg, Payerback, Austria, 1930.

Rufer House, at Vienna, Austria, 1922.

Steiner House, at Vienna, Austria, 1910.

Adolf Loos was born in Brunn, Czechoslovakia in 1870. His studies at the Royal and Imperial State Technical College in Rechenberg, Bohemia were cut short by a two year stint in the army. He eventually obtained a job with the architect Carl Mayreder and in 1897 he established his own practice. He taught for several years throughout Europe, but returned to practice in Vienna in 1928.

Adolf Loos gained greater notoriety for his writings than for his buildings. Loos wanted an intelligently established building method supported by reason. He believed that everything that could not be justified on rational grounds was superfluous and should be eliminated. Loos recommended pure forms for economy and effectiveness. He rarely considered how this "effectiveness" could correspond to rational human needs.

Loos argued against decoration by pointing to economic and historical reasons for its development, and by describing the suppression of decoration as necessary to the regulation of passion. Loos attacked contemporary design as well as the imitative styling of the nineteenth century. He looked on contemporary decoration as mass-produced, mass-consumed trash. Loos acted as a model and a seer for architects of the 1920s. His fight for freedom from the decorative styles of the nineteenth century led a campaign for future architects.