As promised my next images are of Art Nouveau work in Darmstadt. What is Art Nouveau? The term, according to our National Gallery of Art, was first used in 1884 to describe "Les XX" a group of artists in Brussels (Henry Van de Velde joined in 1888), who among other things, celebrated the work of James Abbott McNeil Whistler with a show, also in 1884. In architecture, it refers to a decorative scheme that is not based on the Greek Orders and all of their subsequent variations. Rather, this decoration is based on the forms of nature and in some cases pure geometry (Art Deco later focused more completely on pure geometry.) In 1893, Victor Horta designed the Tassel House in Brussels. Also in 1893, Adler and Sullivan completed the Transportation Building at the Chicago World's Fair. Is it possible that Louis Sullivan is the real father of art nouveau architecture? The work of Guimard, Gaudi, and Mackintosh, among many others, is all subsequent to 1893. Not sayin', or maybe am, something about how the local guy never gets any respect.
No matter where it all started, where did it come from? A short history, The Acropolis in Athens inspired Michelangelo which led to Rococo against which Neo-Classicism arose and then spawned an exuberant parade of revivals. Tired of the parade, two groups in the middle of the 19th century called for reform, for an architecture of the current age; the bacchanalians (Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, etc) and the prudes (Boullee, Loos and Mies). Claude Monet's painting of 1872, "Impression, Sunrise" might be a bacchanalian precursor. The ruins of the Baths of Caracalla and certain medieval castles come to mind as possible inspirations for the prudes. Did Venturi ever point out the earliest "duck"?
-------------------------------------------
Mike Mense FAIA
Owner
mmenseArchitects
Anchorage AK
-------------------------------------------