ART NOUVEAU (1890, 1914)
From around 1890 to World War l (when it fell out of fashion) Art Nouveau artists liberated the arts by incorporating modern materials and themes. Designers and artists like Eugène Gaillard, Emile Gallé, Gustav Klimt, William Morris, E. Galle,... favored streamlined designs and it was their new way of creating that paved the way for the abstracting tendencies that would dominate twentieth-century art and design. Those involved in the Art Nouveau movement looked to the art of Japan, the Celts and Islam as well as nature and geometry as their sources of inspiration. The Rococo style too proved to be an important influence on the Art Nouveau movers and shakers. The result? A reformation of the arts in which artists, architects and designers created a new visual vocabulary, more suited to modern life.