Art nouveau - Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, March, 2000 by Miriam Kramer

The turn of the nineteenth century, like the turn of the twentieth, was marked by an explosion in technology and the arts. Among the latter was the development, popularity, and demise of the art nouveau style. An exhibition entitled Art Nouveau 1890-1914 is on view at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London from April 6 to July 30. It is sponsored by Merrill Lynch. A version of the exhibition opens at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., this fall. The curator of the exhibition, Paul Greenhalgh, has taken the point of view that art nouveau was a collection of movements that became a style, and many of those movements are illustrated in the show.

The exhibition emphasizes the sources and meanings of art nouveau, its urban modernity, and its preoccupation with nature. It includes furniture, ceramics, jewelry, paintings, textiles, and architectural interiors. A complete Paris Metro station enfrance--one of the greatest emblems of the art nouveau style--is included in the show

An accompanying book edited by Greenhalgh bears the same title as the exhibition.