Collection Selection Boxes
Get closer to original Art Nouveau prints, drawings and photographs with our Collection Selection Boxes.
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Art Nouveau
Decorative, sensual, and uncompromising, Art Nouveau ('New Art') emerged as a dynamic and expressive style in the visual arts from the early 1890s to the First World War. Taking its inspiration from the natural world, its characteristic motifs include delicate tendrils, organic forms, swooping, swirling lines, eccentric geometry and exotic bodies.
Viewed by some as the first self-conscious attempt to create a modern style, Art Nouveau steadily developed across Europe and America, and can be seen in painting, sculpture, jewellery, metalwork, glass and ceramics of the period. The seductive drawings of Aubrey Beardsley, the curvaceous architecture of Victor Horta and Paul Hankar and the ornate poster designs of Alphonse Mucha are some of the most familiar examples of the Art Nouveau style.
Features
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Art Nouveau and the erotic
The risqué and often shockingly explicit content of many Art Nouveau works is one of the most striking features of the style
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Aubrey Beardsley – decadence & desire
"I have one aim – the grotesque. If I am not grotesque, I am nothing"
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Objects of beauty: Art Nouveau glass and jewellery
Discover the beauty of fin-de-siècle glass and jewellery, by some of the finest Art Nouveau designers
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The Whiplash
Collection highlights
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Set of two paper knives, fruit knife and six coffee spoon, designed by Prince Bojidar Karageorgevitch, about 1900, Paris, FranceV&A South Kensington -
Tiara comb and bodice ornament, made by Rene Lalique, 1903 – 4, Paris, FranceV&A South Kensington -
La Plume, poster-calendar, by Alphonse Mucha, 1897, FranceV&A South Kensington -
The Prey, vase, designed by Auguste Ledru, made by Susse Frères, 1895 – 1905, Paris, FranceV&A South Kensington -
Cabinet, designed by Louis Majorelle, about 1900, Nancy, FranceV&A South Kensington -
Job, poster, by Alphonse Mucha, 1898 -
Armchair, designed by Louis Majorelle, 1899 – 1900, Nancy, FranceV&A East Storehouse -
Desk, made by Hector Guimard, about 1895, Paris, FranceV&A East Storehouse -
Favrile, vase, designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany for Tiffany Glass & Decorating Co, manufactured by Stourbridge Glass Co., about 1895, Long Island, USV&A South Kensington -
Bowl, by Alexandre Bigot and Edouard Colonna, 1895, Paris, FranceV&A South Kensington -
Duval Janvier, Medallists, plaquette, by Alexandre-Louis-Marie Charpentier, 1902, Paris, FranceV&A South Kensington -
Balcony front, designed by Hector Guimard, made by Bayard et Saint Didier, about 1900, Paris, FranceV&A South Kensington -
The Climax, print, by Aubrey Beardsley, published by John Lane, 1894, London, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Fruit basket, designed by Josef Hoffmann, made by Wiener Werkstätte, 1904, Vienna, AustriaV&A South Kensington -
Kimberley, furnishing fabric, designed by Harry Napper, made for The Silver Studio, about 1902, EnglandV&A East Storehouse -
Design for The Golden Lion public house, about 1899 – 1900, Birmingham, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Cabaret du Chat Noir, poster, designed by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, printed by Charles Verneau, 1896, Paris, FranceV&A South Kensington
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