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For two brief, extraordinary decades either side of 1900, a new style swept through Europe's cities and into its homes. Art Nouveau, literally the new art, reached from Metro entrances and apartment facades down to jewellery, glass and the posters on the street. It remains one of the most instantly recognisable styles in the decorative arts, and one of the most actively collected, which is why pieces from this period pass through our salerooms in almost every sale.
The movement grew out of frustration with the machine age. By the 1890s, mass production had flooded Europe with cheap imitations of historical styles, and a generation of designers wanted something genuinely of its own time. They found their answer in nature. The style spread with remarkable speed between roughly 1890 and 1910, taking a different name in each country, Jugendstil in Germany, Stile Liberty in Italy, Modernisme in Catalonia, while Siegfried Bing's Paris gallery, the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, gave the movement the name that stuck.
Two things announce Art Nouveau at a glance. The first is organic form: stems, tendrils, insect wings, flowing hair and flower heads, drawn from close observation of nature and stylised into ornament. The second is the famous whiplash line, a long, sinuous, asymmetric curve that gives even a static object a sense of movement. Add soft, naturalistic colour and a willingness to treat a door handle or a spoon with the same seriousness as a painting, and you have the essence of the style.
Guimard's cast iron Metro entrances of 1900, all sprouting stems and organic lettering, brought the new style to every Parisian's daily journey and remain its most public monument.
In Catalonia, Gaudí pushed the organic principle further than anyone, dissolving straight lines altogether. The Sagrada Família, still under construction today, shows how far a building could go towards becoming a living form.
Gallé's layered cameo glass, carved and acid-etched with landscapes, dragonflies and flowers, made the French city of Nancy the centre of Art Nouveau glassmaking. Alongside him the Daum brothers ran the other great Nancy glasshouse, and both names remain the backbone of the collectors' market today.
In New York, Tiffany's favrile glass and leaded lamps translated the style for America. His dragonfly and wisteria shades have become icons of the period, and the finest examples now rank among the most valuable objects of the whole movement.
Mucha's posters for Sarah Bernhardt made him famous overnight in 1895 and fixed the popular image of Art Nouveau: a beautiful woman, flowing hair, a halo of flowers and ornament. His lithographs were designed to be printed in quantity, which is precisely why original period impressions can still be collected today.
In Vienna, Klimt led the Secession, the Austrian wing of the movement, and gave it its most sumptuous paintings. His gold-ground portraits, Adele Bloch-Bauer above all, sit at the point where Art Nouveau ornament becomes fine art of the first rank.
Lalique overturned the Victorian assumption that a jewel's worth lay in its stones. He worked in horn, enamel, moulded glass and translucent plique-à-jour enamel, valuing imagination above carat weight, and his dragonflies, orchids and female profiles remain the summit of Art Nouveau jewellery. Unsigned pieces in the same spirit, by makers such as Liberty of London and the German and Austrian workshops, give collectors a far more affordable way into the style.
The market for Art Nouveau has proved remarkably durable. Signed Gallé and Daum cameo glass sells steadily in every auction season, with the larger, rarer and more sculptural pieces attracting serious competition. Tiffany lamps occupy the trophy end of the field. Mucha lithographs, WMF and Liberty pewter, Loetz iridescent glass and Art Nouveau silver all offer entry points at more approachable levels. Two cautions apply: condition matters greatly with glass, and the market has long been troubled by later reproductions carrying spurious Gallé signatures, so a specialist opinion is worth having before anything is bought or sold. Readers who enjoy this period may also like our guides to the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Art Deco movement that followed.
Art Nouveau pieces surface constantly in Surrey and London homes, a cameo glass vase on a windowsill, a pewter dish, an unregarded brooch, and their owners are often unaware of what they have. Our decorative arts and jewellery specialists offer a free valuation from photographs or in person, and can advise honestly on whether a piece is period, signed and saleable.
