Overview: This comprehensive exhibition of the international art nouveau style included some 380 paintings, works of sculpture, graphics, ceramics, glass, textiles, furniture, jewelry, and architectural structures and designs. Part 1 of the 3-part exhibition, The World's Fair in Paris, 1900, showed a selection of works exhibited there by European and American artists. Part 2 explored diverse sources that inspired the style, which flourished in the years around 1900. Part 3 presented works associated with the cities of Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Glasgow, Munich, Turin, New York, and Chicago. The sections concerning Turin and Washington and most of the works in the New York section were shown only in Washington. Noteworthy were a 14-foot-tall cast iron Paris metro station entrance designed by Hector Guimard; the reassembled Ladies' Luncheon Room from Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tearooms in Glasgow by Charles Rennie Mackintosh; and a double parlor designed by Agostino Lauro for a villa outside Turin.

A 15-minute film produced by the Gallery was shown continuously in a theater adjacent to the exhibition. An expanded 30-minute version of the film was shown also.

An audio tour was narrated by director Earl A. Powell III.

A public symposium on art nouveau was held in the East Building auditorium on October 28.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Paul Greenhalgh, head of research, Victoria and Albert Museum, was the guest curator.

Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible by the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund. Additional support was provided by the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Robert and Arlene R. Kogod, Eleanor and Donald Taffner, and The Fund for the International Exchange of Art. The film was made possible by a grant from the Terra Foundation for the Arts. The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Other Venues:

• Victoria and Albert Museum, 04/06/2000–07/30/2000
• Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 04/21/2001–07/08/2001