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The Transition From Art Nouveau To Art Deco

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English Decorative Arts: The Transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco

Parallels can be seen running throughout the two movements and the following essay highlights the similarities and differences within the two styles and the causes of the fall from one and the rise of the other.
Art Nouveau was likewise strongly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite movement which contained prominent artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and John William Waterhouse (Meagher, 2017). This romantic style exhibited a return to nature; common themes were leaves, flowers, tendrils, and insects. Whiplash curves and flowing lines were prominently featured. Art Nouveau portrayals of women were erotic and sensual and many images depicted nudes and these images were originally shocking to the public (Hoffman, 2017) . Artists preferred a pallet of natural colours with soft muted tones of browns, olive greens, blues, and mustard yellow (Marinica, 2017). Advertisers procured these images and adopted the style to produce posters and newspaper advertisements promoting a variety of goods. The Czech artist Alphonse Mucha produced works of this type ("Alphonse Maria Mucha Complete Works 2017", 2017).
Artisans of the Aesthetic movement advocated ‘art for art’s sake’ and created works purely for beauty and never for function (Easby, 2017). James Abbot McNeil Whistler the artist who painted Whistlers Mother, was associated with this genre ("James Abbott McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 | Tate", 2017).

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