Farm Garden with Sunflowers, 1907 by Gustav Klimt.
Klimt is one of the most famous artists to emerge from the movement known as Art Nouveau. The rich beauty of his style is so appealing.
Living in Beauty
The Hill House, south-west perspective, c.1903 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art.
Mackintosh's most famous private residence is Hill House. The style is a combination of Art & Crafts, Art Nouveau and old Scottish manor. It was built for Walter Blackie, a Glasgow publisher. Mackintosh designed the entire thing including furnishings, outbuildings, lawn decorations, lighting, etc.
Peacocks Revisited
Belt Buckle,late 19th early 20th c. by Eugene-Samuel Grasset, The Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design, Smithsonian Institution, New York.
Best known as an Art Nouveau graphic artist of posters, Grasset also designed fabric and jewelry using the fluid lines and forms of the movement.
Smooches
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.
The most famous artist of the Art Nouveau period is Klimt who sense of decoration and design made his artwork rich and complicated. The two figures seem to emerge from the field of gold, flowers and shapes.
Peacock
La Libre Esthetique exhibition poster by Gisbert Combaz, Library of Congress
The Art Nouveau style was created as a reaction to the literal styles which dominated most of the 19th century. It is primarily a decorative style which utilizes sinuous shapes and naturalistic plant forms to create flowing movements.
Pink Flamingos
Flamingoes by Sydney Long, c. 1905-06, The National Gallery of Australia
Long's work was often controversial because of the subject matter he chose to portray in his languid art nouveau style. He was fond of nudes and tranquil scenes. He often chose flamingos as a subject matter and this is perhaps his most stylistic version of the subject matter, where colors and curves become the focus rather than a realistic portrayal. After 1918 he concentrated on print making translating many of his most popular paintings into prints.
Beautifully New
Lady with Fan by Gustav Klimt, 1917, Private Collection.
Happy Birthday to Gustav Klimt, today would have been his 150th birthday. The Austrian Art Nouveau painter, often chose women as his subjects and also used gold leaf to further embellish and decorate his work. There is a retrospective of his artwork at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria now through January 6, 2013.