Translates as ‘New Art’, also called Jugendstil, meaning ‘modern style’ in Germany, ‘Sezessionstil’ in Austria, ‘Stile Floreale’ in Italy and ‘Modernismo’, or ‘Modernista’ in Spain. Mainly prevalent in the years 1890-1910 in Europe and the U.S, it sought to step away from historicism to create a new aesthetic, which extended beyond art to architecture, the applied arts, interior design, textiles and fashion.
The new stylised, organic-inspired curvilinear forms were embraced by Arthur Lazenby Liberty and shop-windowed on London’s Regent Street, emboldening artists and architects to break new ground.
The Cubist movement and the Fauves followed hard on its heels, and the philosophy–if not the style–was carried forward and adapted by an international cast list of names which we know and easily recognise, such as Lutyens, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Emile Galle, Victor Horta, Gaudi, Klimt, Tiffany, Antoni, Gustav, Charles Lewis–and by many other less well-known designers.