Wichmann, Siegfried — Jugendstil Art Nouveau: Floral and Functional Forms

Boston, New York Graphic Society, 1984. Hardcover. Green cloth boards with silver stamped lettering. Glossy black and color-illustrated dust jacket with green and white lettering. 238 pp. 146 illustrations in color and 337 in BW. "The international movement known as art nouveau transformed the decorative arts throughout Europe and the United States at the turn of the century, providing a departure point for modern art. Jugendstil Art Nouveau, the first substantial work in English on the German and Austrian manifestation of the style, is an important study of its origins, development, and international connections. Jugendstil, like its European and American counterparts, was characterized by the sinous line that had its origins in natural forms--the swelling and turning of a flower toward the light echoed in a tulip glass or in a favrile vale by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Author Siegfried Wichmann documents this floral and functional theme of the growth of plants, demonstrating the increasing influence on the fine arts of biological research between 1870 and 1917. Darwin's name was on everyone's lips, and illustrated scientific books by Haeckel, Bolsche and Gerlach revealed a new world of both terrestrial and marine flora, whose flowing movement and iridescent color captivated the artists of the art nouveau. Dr. Wichmann also examines the abstract trend that distinguished German art nouveau after 1900, an apparently contradictory direction toward a style whose rectilinear forms were linked to an evolving machine aesthetic. The illustrations offer a dazzling display in varied media--glass and metalware, lighting fixtures, jewelry, furniture, textiles, and architecture." -Jacket. VG-/VG- front cover of book is lightly curved at edge, light corner/edge wear and scuffing to dust jacket.