A noted expert in his field, Alastair Duncan examines the rise and fall of a "new art" that was not only a style of architecture, furniture, glass, and other applied arts, but a social and cultural movement. At the end of the nineteenth century, the movement began as a reaction by artists and designers to the cult of Victorian revivalism and an artistically limiting traditionalism. The daringly different designs of such artists as Tiffany, Morris, and Lalique, to name a few, were celebrated by the newly affluent middle class in Europe, yet the "new art" fell into obscurity after the First World War, and was finally revitalized in the 1960s. Duncan places the contributions of Art Nouveau's pioneers within their historical context and gives a detailed account of their approaches and their works.

ISBN 0-500-20273-7 · 170 illustrations

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