Art between

European Art Nouveau The unruly Continental offspring, Art Nouveau (the new art) became the first popular 20th-century style, an effete successor to the more rustic Arts and Crafts. Inheriting the great traditions of French colour and form, fed further by Europe's craze for Japonisme, this turn-of- the-century style replaced a dependency on historical design formulae with organic form derived largely from nature. Familiar motifs included curvilinear elements, sinuous contours of tendrils and floral arabesques, whiplash lines, and later, exaggerated embellishment. Art Nouveau responded well to inlaid wood veneers, wrought iron and glass. The name derives from a Paris gallery, L'Art Nouveau, opened in 1895 by Siegfried Bing. In Italy it was called Stile Liberty or Stile Floreale; in Germany, Jugendstil (youth style). It reached its highpoint in the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. While it tried nobly to reconcile art and industry, it was essentially an artist's style and failed to satisfy the demands of mass production. The unruly Continental offspring, Art Nouveau (the new art) became the first popular 20th-century style, an effete successor to the more rustic Arts and Crafts. Inheriting the great traditions of French colour and form, fed further by Europe's craze for Japonisme, this turn-of- the-century style replaced a dependency on historical design formulae with organic form derived largely from nature. Familiar motifs included curvilinear elements, sinuous contours of tendrils and floral arabesques, whiplash lines, and later, exaggerated embellishment. Art Nouveau responded well to inlaid wood veneers, wrought iron and glass. The name derives from a Paris gallery, L'Art Nouveau, opened in 1895 by Siegfried Bing. In Italy it was called Stile Liberty or Stile Floreale; in Germany, Jugendstil (youth style). It reached its highpoint in the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. While it tried nobly to reconcile art and industry, it was essentially an artist's style and failed to satisfy the demands of mass production.

AMERICAN ART NOUVEAU The strains of European Art Nouveau soon found their way into American culture principally through ceramic and glass designs. The fondness for Orientalism, especially Japanese prints and ceramic glazing effects, influenced such leading figures as Louis Comfort Tiffany (his glass became a revered hallmark of Art Nouveau), Jacques Sicard, Artus Van Briggle, William Gates, among others, who introduced highly individualized interpretations of the style to America. Their work did much to blur the old distinctions between fine art and applied or decorative art. Architect Louis H. Sullivan and his master ornamentalist, George Elmslie, introduced the Art Nouveau aesthetic to America's heartland by integrating floral ornaments with cubic mass, a fusion of organic and inorganic superbly realized in The National Farmer's Bank, now Norwest Bank Owatonna. The strains of European Art Nouveau soon found their way into American culture principally through ceramic and glass designs. The fondness for Orientalism, especially Japanese prints and ceramic glazing effects, influenced such leading figures as Louis Comfort Tiffany (his glass became a revered hallmark of Art Nouveau), Jacques Sicard, Artus Van Briggle, William Gates, among others, who introduced highly individualized interpretations of the style to America. Their work did much to blur the old distinctions between fine art and applied or decorative art. Architect Louis H. Sullivan and his master ornamentalist, George Elmslie, introduced the Art Nouveau aesthetic to America's heartland by integrating floral ornaments with cubic mass, a fusion of organic and inorganic superbly realized in The National Farmer's Bank, now Norwest Bank Owatonna.

AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS In America as well as in Britain, the virtues of handcrafted objects-- straightforward design, natural materials and enduring construction techniques--were embraced. The values of hearth and home--idyllic domesticity--and the virtues of honesty and simplicity became the predominant themes, nature being the constant source of inspiration. While Arts and Crafts ornament led to and overlapped with Art Nouveau decoration, particularly in metalwork and ceramics, furniture designs led almost directly to De Stijl and Bauhaus geometry of the 1920s. The work of Gustav Stickley in particular, and the appearance of his Craftsman magazine from 1901 to 1916, paralleled the mature phase of the American movement which extended to the severe furniture of the so-called Mission Style and the finest work of the Prairie School. In America as well as in Britain, the virtues of handcrafted objects-- straightforward design, natural materials and enduring construction techniques--were embraced. The values of hearth and home--idyllic domesticity--and the virtues of honesty and simplicity became the predominant themes, nature being the constant source of inspiration. While Arts and Crafts ornament led to and overlapped with Art Nouveau decoration, particularly in metalwork and ceramics, furniture designs led almost directly to De Stijl and Bauhaus geometry of the 1920s. The work of Gustav Stickley in particular, and the appearance of his Craftsman magazine from 1901 to 1916, paralleled the mature phase of the American movement which extended to the severe furniture of the so-called Mission Style and the finest work of the Prairie School.

Flatiron Building The Fuller Building, better known as the Flatiron Building, was one of the tallest buildings in New York City upon its completion in The building, at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, sits on a triangular island block at 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue, and Broadway, facing Madison Square.

McKim, Mead and White Building McKim, Mead, and White was a prominent architectural firm in the eastern United States at the turn of the twentieth century. The firm consisted of Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White. McKim and White studied under Henry Hobson Richardson before forming their own firm. They were associated with the City Beautiful and Beaux Arts movements, which aimed to clean up the visual confusion of American cities and imbue them with a sense of order and noble formality.