Art Nouveau Flower

From my postbag today, an e.mail simply asking “What is Art Nouveau?”

Art Nouveau is a decorative style which was originally popular in the latere 1800s and early 1900s. The style is called after a Parisienne shop opened by S. Bing in the 1890s calle “L’Art Nouveau” however the style had been arround for a few years before that shop opened.

Art Nouveau is characterised by naturalistic images and flowing curved lines ~ just look at the poppy flower in the plate above .  Some of the major British names associated with the art nouveau movement are Liberty, Aubrey Vincent Beardsley and the Glasgow Movement including Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Today you can still buy original Art nouveau works of art and decorative artifacts including Jewellery, silver and pewter vessels. If you are looking to aquire original pieces of Art Nouveau at a reasonble price I suggest a piece of Charles Horner silver ( Jewellery or a Hat Pin) or a nice art Nouveau tile. Nice examples can still be obtained from arround £50.