An international movement comprised of various styles found throughout the world, Art Nouveau and its rejection of traditional design adopts a new visual form that amplifies dynamic and individualistic qualities. In France, Spain, and the United States, where an organic, curvilinear form of Art Nouveau is adopted, naturalistic forms are reduced to basic elements in an attempt to help convey force, energy, and organic growth. According to Harwood, the underlying concept behind the manipulation of line and form is "the desire to create a new style divorced from those of the past, that expresses a modern urbanized, commercial society."
In France and the United States, natural and organic motifs riddled with whiplash curves and plant-like movements are commonplace. Concerning France, influences from Art Nouveau can be seen in the work of Hector Guimard. Challenging traditional notions of design, Guimard created furniture pieces that conveyed vigor and free-flowing characteristics through asymmetrical form and organic curves. Clearly present in his 1899 cabinet piece, the use of natural motifs in conjunction with reinforced, curvilinear panels and drawers creates a fluid composition that emphasizes the relationship between space and form. However, in the United States, influences stemming from Art Nouveau can be seen through the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. An American glass designer, Tiffany used opalescent glass to create glass lamp shades illustrating natural elements.
In Spain, where Arte Moderno is recognized, sculptural, eccentric, and idiosyncratic elements characterize the work of Antonio Gauidi Cornet. Widely recognized for his creative originality, his designs have permeated throughout Barcelona and Catalonia in the form of furniture, tiles, buildings, and ironwork. Often manipulating materials to create natural "renditions of flowers, trees, vegetables, and waves to create a surreal sense of place" (Harwood), Gaudi firmly joins individually designed pieces into a cohesive whole. As seen in the curving facade of Gaudi's Casa Mila in Barcelona, Spain, harmony found throughout vertical and horizontal expressions ultimately form a dynamic, fluid expression that makes use of curvilinear shapes to emphasize the separation of stories and their subsequent reflections of the sky and ground.
[2] Originating at the Bauhaus and in the work of LeCorbusier, the so-called Modern movement deeply influenced design and architecture of the twentieth century. The great debate raised by this new approach to design involved the presence of the machine in the design process and final products. SPECULATE about the implications of “machines for living” and the famous dictum “less is more” on design today. Use at least one ARTIFACT, SPACE, or BUILDING in your answer, providing a salient image (cited) and annotation to help bolster your argument. [10 POINTS POSSIBLE]
With the arrival of the Modern movement, design came to amplify and suggest the importance of utilitarian aspects and the native aesthetic appeal that stemmed from simple, purposed design. The implications of Le Corbusier's "machines for living" fronts an ideology that supports the manipulation of space , light, and order to create designs inherently machine-like. To Corbusier, expanding the utilitarian purposes of architecture to levels of aesthetic appeal allowed the expression of various features within a building to come together as inhabitants explored its interiors. Extremely related to the "less is more" dictum today, by limiting superficial design implementations, emphasis on a building's purpose and form evolves into an identity- a logical, functional design that breaks from traditional architecture and pushes for the removal of excess decoration.
The Bailey House, Case Study House #21
[3] From the assigned pages in Roth, Harwood, and Massey, SELECT an image that you believe explodes the notion that Modern interiors and objects were black and white. Fully RENDER your own design exploration of that image through color, material, and light and appropriately annotate and cite the image to prove this point. [5 POINTS POSSIBLE]
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