Art Nouveau Graphic Masterpieces: 100 Plates From "La Decoration Artistique"

By Henry Guedy

Published in Paris before World War I, these decorative Art Nouveau graphics originally appeared in a now-rare periodical, La Decoration Artistique. This compilation presents 100 full-color plates in a beautiful assortment of period designs that will prove essential to collectors of the era's best and hardest-to-find illustrations.
A splendid variety of images includes headpieces, typographical banners, and other designs rendered in the distinctive Art Nouveau style, all embellished with naturalistic motifs, from parrots and peacocks to sinuous vines and flowers in full bloom. Other illustrations feature storefront signage for bakeries and cafés; decorative friezes of theatrical masks and grapevines; borders of blossoms, books, and birds; stenciled decorations for fire screens; and corner and ceiling ornaments. Art aficionados, designers, artists, art students, and anyone with a taste for Art Nouveau will delight in this extraordinary collection, which offers a lasting source of inspiration and pleasure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Mar 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780486838724

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NOTE

This volume reprints 100 plates from the French periodical La decoration artistique, published in Paris in the decade preceding the First World War. Siegfried Bing, a German art dealer based in Paris, opened his new gallery called the Maison de l’Art Nouveau (House of New Art) on 22 rue de Provence in 1895. Displaying works of what was then considered modern art by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and others, the gallery worked to popularize the style we now know as Art Nouveau, then the New Art of its day. At the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, or Exposition Universelle, Bing played a crucial role by displaying complete installations featuring furniture, textiles, and other objects of all kinds created in this new and modern style by his substantial