News Release: October 3, 2000 (Updated)
Washington, DC--Art Nouveau,1890-1914, the largest and most comprehensive exhibition on the subject ever organized, presents one of the most innovative and exuberant of all modern art styles and the places where it flourished. More than 350 masterpieces in painting, sculpture, graphics, glass, ceramics, textiles, furniture, jewelry, and architecture from twenty-two countries are featured, including a Glasgow luncheon room designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a Paris Métropolitain entrance by Hector Guimard, and a double parlor by Agostino Lauro from a villa outside Turin. The two rooms are among the unique features of the Washington venue.
At the National Gallery of Art this vibrant fin de siècle era is celebrated with an overview of highlights from the World's Fair of 1900 in Paris, followed by sections presenting sources of the new style and examples from eight of the cities in which Art Nouveau flourished: Paris, Brussels, Glasgow, Vienna, Munich, Turin, New York, and Chicago. The exhibition, on view in the National Gallery of Art, East Building, 8 October 2000, through 28 January 2001, is organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where it was on view from 6 April through 30 July 2000, in association with the National Gallery of Art. After Washington, the core of the exhibition travels to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, where it will be on view from 21 April through 8 June 2001. There are key differences in the selection of objects for each venue.
"The beginning of this new millennium is an ideal time to present the most complete examination of an innovative international style that fascinated the world at the turn of the last century," said Earl A. Powell lll, director, National Gallery of Art. "The Art Nouveau style was self-consciously international and American artists and architects in New York, Buffalo, Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago readily adapted the style. As interpreted by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, the movement in America set the stage for a modernism that in turn had a great influence on progressive art and architecture in the United States, Europe, and Japan."
SUPPORT
The exhibition is made possible by DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund.
"DaimlerChrysler is pleased to bring such an important exhibition as Art Nouveau to our nation's capital," said Jim Holden, President and CEO of DaimlerChrysler Corporation. "As a company committed to innovative automotive design, we celebrate the vision, creativity, and style of the artists who brought this exciting new form of art and design into the twentieth century."
"We are grateful to DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund for making this exhibition possible through their generous support," said Powell. "Special thanks also go to the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod, Eleanor and Donald Taffner, and the Fund for the International Exchange of Art for their additional support."
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
EXHIBITION: Background
The Art Nouveau (French for "new art") movement grew as a reaction to the excesses of other more academic nineteenth-century revivals. Art Nouveau proponents reinterpreted their sources of inspiration--the art of Japan, nature, and geometry--in their efforts to reform the arts and create a new visual vocabulary suited to modern life. These designers sought to create a Gesamtkunstwerk--a total and complete decorative style that combined all the arts, including painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative arts, and architecture, in a single, expressive whole.
Expressing both the nostalgia and decadence of the fin de siècle period and the modernism of the dawning twentieth century, Art Nouveau spread throughout Europe and major American cities from about 1890 to World War l, when it fell out of fashion. By rejecting rote repetition of historical styles from the past and incorporating modern materials and themes, Art Nouveau liberated the arts. The streamlined designs favored by many Art Nouveau artists paved the way for the abstracting tendencies that would dominate twentieth-century art and design.
EXHIBITION: Organization
Works by more than 150 artists and designers such as Charles R. Ashbee, William Bradley, Carlo Bugatti, Daum Frères, Eugène Gaillard, Émile Gallé, Hector Guimard, Victor Horta, Gustav Klimt, René Lalique, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Louis Majorelle, William Morris, Alphonse Mucha, Edvard Munch, Louis Sullivan, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henry van de Velde, Philippe Wolfers, and Frank Lloyd Wright are featured.
The World's Fair in Paris, 1900: Visitors to the exhibition are introduced to various aspects of the style through a display of masterpieces of Art Nouveau design that were shown at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Among the highlights are French jewelry designer Lalique's elaborate Dragonfly woman corsage ornament (c. 1897-1898); a suite of gilded furniture by Georges de Feure that was shown at Siegfried Bing's pavilion; Italian Vittorio Valabrega's enormous, elaborately carved Chimneypiece (1900); and Tiffany's leaded Favrile glass Three-panel screen (c.1900).
Sources of the New Style
The second section of the exhibition examines seven design sources, which Art Nouveau both drew upon and interpreted:
Celtic and Viking Revivals: Enthusiasm for Celtic and Viking motifs, triggered by mid-nineteenth century archaeological discoveries, is reflected in facsimiles of Celtic metalwork, Celtic-inspired architectural ornaments by Chicago architect Sullivan, and Scandinavian furniture in the "Viking" or "dragon" style. Most of the works will be shown in Washington only.
Rococo: Among the selection of eighteenth-century decorative arts and furnishings in the Rococo style is a spectacular chest of drawers designed by Jean-Mathieu Chevallier, from the National Gallery of Art's collection. Art Nouveau design reflecting the influence of the Rococo is demonstrated by a fanciful wall clock created by innovative Catalan designer Antoní Gaudí.
Japan and China: The enormous impact of Asian art on the rise of Art Nouveau, as exemplified by lacquerware, textiles, and woodblock prints by artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai, as well as by Chinese furniture and jades, is reflected in objects such as a silver buckle with irises by Lalique and posters throughout the exhibition by artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, and William Bradley.
Islamic World: Documenting the influence of Islamic decorative arts, examples of Persian and Syrian glass, Turkish tiles, and textiles are displayed in the company of Art Nouveau interpretations. Inlaid furniture by Italy's Carlo Bugatti is shown alongside carved wooden and ivory panels from the Arab world, and a swan-necked vase by Tiffany is flanked by Persian prototypes.
The Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movements in England: The section focusing on the English Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movements and their roles in the development of Art Nouveau includes paintings, drawings, furniture, textiles, metalwork, ceramics, and stained glass by principal artists and designers. Examples include Edward Coley, Burne-Jones' leaded glass window The Viking Ship (1883-1884); James McNeill Whistler's canvas, Variations in Violet and Green (1871); Morris' curtain with peacock and dragon design (1878); and E. W. Godwin's elaborate, ebonized mahogany sideboard (1876).
Symbolism: Symbolist thinking, concerned with mysticism, myth, spirituality, and the subconscious, directly influenced turn of the century artists such as Paul Gauguin (Self-Portrait, 1889), Paul Signac (Portrait of Félix Fénéon, 1890), and Fernand Khnopff (The Blue Wing, 1894). A favorite symbolist theme was the femme fatale, seen here in Munch's 1893 The Vampire and Sarah Bernhardt's 1880 bronze Inkwell (self-portrait as a sphinx).
The Cult of Nature: In the wake of discoveries by Charles Darwin, nature--in all of its manifestations--became a unifying influence on Art Nouveau artists. Illustrating links between art and nature are beetle and frog ornaments by Lalique, a series of plant- and insect-inspired vases by Émile Gallé, a sinuously curved desk by Louis Majorelle and Daum Frères, and Tiffany Studios' Eighteen-light lily table lamp (c.1902)
Cities
Paris: Visitors pass through a fourteen-foot-high, cast iron Paris metro station entrance (c. 1900) designed by Hector Guimard, which came to symbolize the modern style's bold use of modern industrial materials to express the new aesthetic. An opulent Guimard buffet (Washington only), a poster by Pierre Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec lithographs, jewelry by Georges Fouquet and Lalique, and furniture by François Rupert Carabin suggest the manner in which the chic, modern Art Nouveau style permeated the City of Light.
Brussels: Architectural elements by Victor Horta, as well as furniture and other decorative arts by Horta, Henry van de Velde, and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy portray the sinuous curves created by Belgian Art Nouveau designers. Posters, sculpture, and paintings round out the presentation and show the importance of symbolism for Belgian artists.
Glasgow: In contrast to the curvilinear Art Nouveau style of Paris and Brussels, the more rectilinear furniture and architecture of artist-designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh became icons of the new art and altered the cityscape of his native Glasgow. The centerpiece of this city's section is his reassembled Ladies' Luncheon Room from Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tearooms.
Vienna and Munich: Geometric forms by designers such as Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann are seen in the posters, furniture, and furnishings shown in the Vienna section. Paintings by Gustav Klimt are also featured. Munich highlights include furniture designed by Richard Riemerschmid, along with graphics and sculpture by Thomas Theodor Heine.
Turin: This section (exclusive to the Washington venue) is devoted to Turin, which hosted the largest exposition of modern decorative arts in 1902. A curved chair called the snail or cobra chair, which was designed by Bugatti, highlights this section. Also on view is a completely furnished double parlor, replete with swirling vines and tendril motifs, which Agostino Lauro designed for a villa outside the city.
New York: The diverse output of Louis Comfort Tiffany and his Tiffany Studios, seen throughout the exhibition, is prominently displayed in the section devoted to his native New York City. Spectacular objects--glass, ceramics, metalwork, and jewelry--document why Tiffany came to epitomize Art Nouveau in this country and why his impact was so pronounced in fin de siècle New York. Most of the works in this section are only on view in Washington.
Chicago: Chicago was one of the few cities that employed both the curvilinear and the rectilinear approach to modern design. The use of nature in ornamentation and design is evident in the architectural elements of Louis Sullivan, thistle-motif objects in different media by George Washington Maher, and the graphic art of William Bradley. Frank Lloyd Wright's rectilinearity stands out in the dining room table and chairs he designed for Chicago's famed Robie House. This section is unique to the exhibition in Washington.
CATALOGUE
An illustrated, 496-page catalogue, the most comprehensive study of Art Nouveau ever published, was edited by Paul Greenhalgh, head of research at the Victoria and Albert Museum and curator of the exhibition. It includes contributions from twenty-two leading scholars in the field, from Europe and America. A softcover book published by V&A Publications is available for $35 exclusively through the Gallery Shops. A hardcover version of the book published by Abrams is available for $75 in the Gallery Shops and at book retailers nationwide. To order by phone, call (301) 322-5900 or (800) 697-9350.
Gallery Information
A range of educational programs is offered in conjunction with Art Nouveau, 1890-1914. Additional information and a complete schedule of gallery talks, lectures, films, and programs for families are available on this Web site. The site also includes a special feature devoted to the exhibition. Interviews with experts, time lapse photography, and a selection of art works reveal how this exhibition evolved.
General Information
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov. The Gallery is now on Facebook—become a fan at www.facebook.com/NationalGalleryofArt.
Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.
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