Art Nouveau - Art and Design 1900

Lecture given by Anne Anderson BA PhD FSA on Art Nouveau - Art and Design 1900.

In 1900 Art Nouveau was at its apogee: in Paris, Nancy, Brussels, Barcelona, Glasgow and Vienna.

This talk focuses on the designers working in France and Belgium: Alphonse Mucha, the premier poster designer; Rene Lalique, who produced the finest jewellery; Hector Guimard, the creator of the Paris Metro; Victor Horta, who fashioned the first Art Nouveau house in 1893, and Emile Galle, the glass designer who led Le Ecole Nancy.

The French and Belgian schools adopted the ‘whiplash’ line and took Woman as the embodiment of Nature to create a style for the new century. Curving, undulating forms fashioned figurines, furniture, ceramics, glass and jewellery, as well as embellishing entire interiors. Rejected by the English, as it was seen to be hedonistic, decadent, and even morally corrupting, Art Nouveau was condemned for being no more than mere decoration.

It was decried as commercial, pandering to popular taste and reducing art to fashion. But Art Nouveau embraced modernity using the latest technologies, especially electric light.

It expressed the anxieties era, especially those aroused by progress and the spectre of the New Woman. (Biography) - Ann Anderson graduated in Art History and Archaeology from Leicester University in 1978 and worked as an archaeologist for 8 years, being elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1997.

She is currently Hon. Research Fellow at Exeter University; a Fletcher Jones Fellow of the Huntington Library, CA; a fellow of the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum and Library; Cumming Ceramic Research Foundation Fellow (2007 and 2010) and consultant for Lord Frederic Leighton's Studio-House, Kensington.

Anne is also a tutor at the V&A on the Chardin to Cézanne year course.

Join us on the 19 January 2017 at Le Meridien St Julians Hotel and Spa. For further information and to book please contact Ms. Nicole Stilon, at maltadfas@gmail.com.

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