Art Nouveau Furniture
In its sinuous lines and flamboyant curves inspired by the natural world, antique Art Nouveau furniture reflects a desire for freedom from the stuffy social and artistic strictures of the Victorian era. The Art Nouveau movement developed in the decorative arts in France and Britain in the early 1880s and quickly became a dominant aesthetic style in Western Europe and the United States.
ORIGINS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the late 19th century
- Popularity of this modernizing style declined in the early 20th century
- Originated in France and Britain but variants materialized elsewhere
- Informed by Rococo, Pre-Raphaelite art, Japanese art (and Japonisme), Arts and Crafts; influenced modernism, Bauhaus
CHARACTERISTICS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN
- Sinuous, organic and flowing lines
- Forms that mimic flowers and plant life
- Decorative inlays and ornate carvings of natural-world motifs such as insects and animals
- Use of hardwoods such as oak, mahogany and rosewood
ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
ANTIQUE ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Art Nouveau — which spanned furniture, architecture, jewelry and graphic design — can be easily identified by its lush, flowing forms suggested by flowers and plants, as well as the lissome tendrils of sea life. Although Art Deco and Art Nouveau were both in the forefront of turn-of-the-20th-century design, they are very different styles — Art Deco is marked by bold, geometric shapes while Art Nouveau incorporates dreamlike, floral motifs. The latter’s signature motif is the "whiplash" curve — a deep, narrow, dynamic parabola that appears as an element in everything from chair arms to cabinetry and mirror frames.
The visual vocabulary of Art Nouveau was particularly influenced by the soft colors and abstract images of nature seen in Japanese art prints, which arrived in large numbers in the West after open trade was forced upon Japan in the 1860s. Impressionist artists were moved by the artistic tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking, and Japonisme — a term used to describe the appetite for Japanese art and culture in Europe at the time — greatly informed Art Nouveau.
The Art Nouveau style quickly reached a wide audience in Europe via advertising posters, book covers, illustrations and other work by such artists as Aubrey Beardsley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha. While all Art Nouveau designs share common formal elements, different countries and regions produced their own variants.
In Scotland, the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh developed a singular, restrained look based on scale rather than ornament; a style best known from his narrow chairs with exceedingly tall backs, designed for Glasgow tea rooms. Meanwhile in France, Hector Guimard — whose iconic 1896 entry arches for the Paris Metro are still in use — and Louis Majorelle produced chairs, desks, bed frames and cabinets with sweeping lines and rich veneers.
The Art Nouveau movement was known as Jugendstil ("Youth Style") in Germany, and in Austria the designers of the Vienna Secession group — notably Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich — produced a relatively austere iteration of the Art Nouveau style, which mixed curving and geometric elements.
Art Nouveau revitalized all of the applied arts. Ceramists such as Ernest Chaplet and Edmond Lachenal created new forms covered in novel and rediscovered glazes that produced thick, foam-like finishes. Bold vases, bowls and lighting designs in acid-etched and marquetry cameo glass by Émile Gallé and the Daum Freres appeared in France, while in New York the glass workshop-cum-laboratory of Louis Comfort Tiffany — the core of what eventually became a multimedia decorative-arts manufactory called Tiffany Studios — brought out buoyant pieces in opalescent favrile glass.
Jewelry design was revolutionized, as settings, for the first time, were emphasized as much as, or more than, gemstones. A favorite Art Nouveau jewelry motif was insects (think of Tiffany, in his famed Dragonflies glass lampshade).
Like a mayfly, Art Nouveau was short-lived. The sensuous, languorous style fell out of favor early in the 20th century, deemed perhaps too light and insubstantial for European tastes in the aftermath of World War I. But as the designs on 1stDibs demonstrate, Art Nouveau retains its power to fascinate and seduce.
There are ways to tastefully integrate a touch of Art Nouveau into even the most modern interior — browse an extraordinary collection of original antique Art Nouveau furniture on 1stDibs, which includes decorative objects, seating, tables, garden elements and more.
1910s French Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Bronze
1880s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Pottery
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Art Glass
1950s Hungarian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Porcelain
Early 20th Century Swedish Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1890s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic, Majolica
1890s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Art Nouveau Furniture
Brass
20th Century English Art Nouveau Furniture
Brass
Early 20th Century American Art Nouveau Furniture
Sterling Silver
1890s Belgian Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Earthenware, Pottery
1920s Belgian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1930s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
Early 20th Century Belgian Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1920s Belgian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
Early 20th Century Belgian Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Art Glass
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Furniture
Bronze
Early 1900s English Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Pewter
1920s Belgian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
Early 20th Century Belgian Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1930s Belgian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
Early 1900s Italian Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Oak
1920s French Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
Early 1900s Spanish Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1930s Belgian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1920s Belgian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
Early 20th Century Belgian Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1920s Belgian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1910s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Brass
1890s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Onyx, Bronze
Early 20th Century European Art Nouveau Furniture
Wood
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Mirror, Cherry
1970s Unknown Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Iron
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Furniture
Iron
20th Century French Art Nouveau Furniture
Marble, Bronze
20th Century French Art Nouveau Furniture
Bronze
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
1930s German Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Silver Plate
Early 20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Furniture
Iron
1910s French Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Blown Glass
Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Furniture
Porcelain
1910s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Beech
Early 20th Century German Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
20th Century French Art Nouveau Furniture
Metal
Early 1900s American Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Ceramic
20th Century Art Nouveau Furniture
Bronze
Early 20th Century German Art Nouveau Furniture
Brass
1930s American Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Bronze
1890s German Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Metal
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Brass
2010s Indian Art Nouveau Furniture
Wool
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Furniture
Bronze
1920s Italian Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Cement, Brass
Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Furniture
Cane, Wood
Early 1900s Czech Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Art Glass
1960s French Vintage Art Nouveau Furniture
Brass
Late 19th Century English Antique Art Nouveau Furniture
Silver, Sterling Silver, Enamel