Art Nouveau Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Art Nouveau - Essay Example Art Nouveau seemed advanced, willingly grasping the materials of the present and establishing itself as a movement of original, but at the same time, artificial novelty. Did stone validate the strength and riches of the affluent, whose self-centredness Art Nouveau ridiculed? Art Nouveau showed off its originality by transforming stone into a lively work of art with swirling flora, legendary people and mythical creatures. Art Nouveau skilfully used and manipulated stone, but at the same time, adopted new materials like glass, steel, iron, and polychrome glazing, usually in interesting and extraordinary mixtures or arrangements in the same creation, whether it is furniture or a dwelling. Every facet of human thought and behaviour were explored once more. It may be reasonably assumed that there was a transition to a worldview that was governed by an extraordinary sense of assurance and appreciation as regards the environment and human circumstances. There was an incomparable feeling tha t humanity was embracing life and existence, that the Gothic idea that people inhabit a world engulfed by the enigmatic, unfathomable, impenetrable, and bizarre was being eroded. However, as a contradiction, there was also a rejection of positivist ideas, western materialism, and empirical evidence. A feeling of aversion resulted in a return to forgotten traditions and bygone eras and a hostility to mercantilist capitalism. In spite of this dichotomy—a contrast between the natural and the artificial.