This is a piece by Alphonse Mucha he was a czech painter and designer. This image is an illustration of three beautiful woman, this is considered to be an Art Nouveau piece because of the characteristics that it has. The image depicts young beautiful woman who have crazy long and or wind blown hair. Their clothing is also wind blown and sometimes sheer. They also have some form of nature in the images either in the background and or in their hair. The images were a bit risque for the time because of the exposed skin and breast, they represent sexuality and idolized beauty. The Czech style differs from the other countries Art nouveau styles because they favored the earthy vibe. I feel that the country’s culture plays a huge role in the style that the have. Only because of the values and even landscape.

So for this week we learned about Art Nouveau, and we talked about the characteristics. Originating in Belgium and France, and even getting as far as Asian countries, I’ve noticed that a lot of the designs were patterns. Not only patterns, but when it came to poster design and whatnot, this style focused on what was going on at the time (or advertising brands), and usually had people as the center. I’ve also noticed that many of the people in said posters were women, as well. Not all of them, but most. And of course different countries have a different take on Art Nouveau, it would be silly to think otherwise. Asian cultures added certain aspects of their culture to their work and others did too.

My personal favorite of the ones that were shown to us during this week were the floral prints, just because they were more visually appealing to me. The one posted below is the one that stood out to me the most, and it was the only one out of the many that were shown to us that I could find.

The Art Nouveau image that I chose for this week, was created by non-other than Alphonse Mucha. In this image he represents many of the characteristics based on the Czech Art Nouveau region. The first characteristic that I recognized was in the style of the women’s hair. The hair is styled as if there is a fan blowing the hair back and around the women’s face. The second characteristic I recognized was the ring of cigarette smoke that forms a halo around the women’s head. These are all characteristics that represent this type of art nouveau along with the board that is around the image.

There are many differences comparing his art work to art work created in America. The first major difference that I recognized had to do with the influence of each country. The American art work during this time were influenced greatly by the Japanese artist. Many of the art works from America also do not show any body form in their women, while the women in the Czech art work are very young and curvy. There are many differences comparing these to style even though they are form the same time period, and in my opinion that is a little crazy to me.

The piece that I have chosen is by Mucha. A lot of the pieces were beautiful and I found very interesting but this one stuck out to me for the fluidness throughout the piece as a whole as the amount of detail makes your eye constantly move around the piece. The powerful image of woman doing social things and being more a part of society is also another reason why I picked this piece.

The characteristics the piece has is the amount of details; the complicated border surrounding the figure along with the details in the woman to begin with and not to mention the colors! Bright colors that seem to pop out at you and the asymmetry of the piece as well would be giveaways as to the origin and since this is a piece by Alphonse Mucha it would be from Czech. As opposed to French or English Art Nouveau which have the same similarities but have a more distinct influence from nature, with lots of flowers or Japanese influences.

As we see the differences between France and England in the Art Nouveau wave it is obvious they all have similarities. LOTS of nature- flowers, flowers, and more flowers. Very geometric shapes along with flowy lines and just very beautiful figures doing more social things due to the Industrial Revolution.

The different styles of art nouveau are all new art movements and each one has a style based off of where it originated from. They all have their own characteristics and styles. Some flow with natural lines and shapes. Some flourish with flowers and hair flowing almost as if it was being blown in the wind. The country that it may have originated from will usually show with the certain types of movement and shapes and colors that can be characterized into the different countries. For example Japan has a lot of flat planes, strong colors and abruptly cut off scenes. A lot of their design was elegantly based off of plants and insects. France celebrated the vibrant pulse of urban life. Each style had its own distinct  characteristics that give you an idea of where they came from. People use these characteristics to symbolize and show their culture in their art. The influence a country can have on the way their art looks or emotions they might represent and feel and influence others to feel that way. Each country had their own style that represents them or their culture. It can be from the colors they use to the line weight that they use. Art is influenced and can influence!

Art Nouveau or “New Art” became about during the late 19th century throughout Europe and the United States. This movement advocated nature as their main source of design. You would usually find in this style characteristics such as curved lines and asymmetry, grass, lilies, flowers and vines. Butterflies and insects are sometimes found too. The first style that comes to my mind is of the artist Alphonse Mucha, a Czech Art Nouveau painter. One that I found that was interesting is called “The Arts”. Most of Mucha’s work shows very flowing women that idealized beauty and open sexuality. They wore very neoclassical looking robes and were surrounded by lush flowers. It just screams Art Nouveau, quintessential “New Art” style.  He’s done many paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations as well. Do I like this style? No. I don’t, to be honest. It’s just what I see when I think of this particular art movement. I’ve seen this style a lot, even art students here at Mott have been inspired by the art. I do appreciate that art was brought into this style though, such as the vines and flowers. I believe Mucha’s style was revived in the 60’s with the phsychedelic posters and the like. It’s very retro. I do like the styles from the 60’s and 70’s, which at the time there was a resurgence of that Nouveou style. So maybe that’s why I like it, but don’t? It’s a love/hate relationship. I appreciate but hate it. Odd, I know.

What I gathered from the lecture, Art Nouveau is a style that usually includes woman with extravagant hair, elegant fabric and in general is a new approach on modern art. Many of the illustrations can be described as risque, many of them showing off the woman’s chest. Though in European countries the style usually shows off more skin compared to the states, where the art is shown to be more conservative. Something I need to make note of is that I absolutely am in love with Mucha’s style. I’ve seen many pieces in the same type of style as theirs, but I never knew what the big deal was about it until I listened to the lecture. I find their art to be extremely gorgeous and inspiring. The way that the details draw your attention and how they use the fabric of the model’s clothes along with their hair to be extremely breathtaking. Not only do the patterns and the designs add flair, but the use of color isn’t off so anything looks abnormal and the pieces just seem to look alive. I can say that I am in love with the style. Now I know where I can get my inspiration whenever I have an art block.

An Art Nouveau image that caught my attention the most is the La Loie Fuller poster like painting by Jules Cheret. The solid, dark background surrounding the image really helps the bright colors pop even more than it would on a lighter background. The type or letters on this one seem a little more balanced and appealing when compared to some of the other Nouveau images we came across that just seemed to be stuck on the image, because it needed to be.

There are pretty common characteristics with Art Nouveau and all of the images we discussed: sinuous curved lines, asymmetrical balances, forms of nature (the Japanese approach was fairly popular), and unusual natural forms. While most of them contained images of women to influence the idea of women having a greater part in society, some of the art created also just contained beautiful, intriguing patterns that usually resembled nature or even insect patterns. So if you ever wanted a wall decorated with each individual legs from a spider, this art form is the one for you!

What I actually like about Art Nouveau is that bright colors used in the art. I find it extremely appealing to the eye unless it just becomes a circus-like production with no thought put into it.