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The exhibition draws on some of the best examples of Russian and West European production to illustrate the main stages in the development of this artistic style, the role Russia played in the development of pan-European Art Nouveau, and the links between Russian art and the basic artistic trends that can be seen around the world at the turn of the 20th century. One of the most remarkable items of early Art Nouveau in the Hermitage collection is a tapestry by William Morris entitled Adoration of the Magi. The tapestry was based on a water color by Edward Burne-Jones, and it immediately revealed Morris’s role in shaping the Art Nouveau style, demonstrating both the Romantic character of the artist’s work and his love for the Middle Ages. William Morris looked upon applied arts and masterpiece paintings as having equal merit. His thoughts were interlinked with the Pre-Raphaelite movement in England, with its exalted idea of the importance of art Another source of inspiration for the creators of Art Nouveau was the art of the Far East and of Japan in particular. It was not a question of direct borrowing of themes and subjects, although individual artists did follow this direction. Eastern exoticism captivated Europeans by its mysteriousness and unfamiliarity. A Far Eastern influence appeared in the shapes of furniture, in the decoration of ceramics and porcelain and in the ornamentation of textiles. Art Nouveau in its pure form, or in what is normally understood by this term, is a “conversation” of lines. This appeared most clearly in the generally accepted sense in France, where the world of nature was the source of new forms and decorative motifs. The postulate that all forms come from nature when seen in a new way remains a constant in the work of the best exponents of the Art Nouveau style over the course of the last decade of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The idea of turning to nature lay at the basis of the work of masters of the Nancy School, who, more than anyone else, approached Romanticism in their understanding of the importance of symbols. Emile Gallé’s phenomenal popularity was largely due to the way he encoded things, although his symbolism is rather simple. Practitioners of applied art tried to express their ideas in "talking glass" and "conversational furniture", which was at times naïve and direct in the way it introduced into the decoration of an object lines from verses and inscriptions. The new production techniques used in Gallé’s glass factory were no less interesting. The Hermitage collection is rich enough to illustrate all the stages and tendencies in the master’s work, both in the field of glass-making and in furniture-making. The superb collection of. vases begins with early examples with designs painted in enamel and goes all the way to Gallé’s masterpieces in multi-layer glass with floral decor, such as images of orchids, irises and chrysanthemums. As a furniture maker Gallé is represented by a unique table, the Flora Lotharingia, a gift to the Russian Emperor Alexander III from the cities of Lorraine which was presented during the visit of a Russian squadron to Toulon. The inlaid table top was created according to a design by the master; it is a unique botanical atlas of the province. The cities and populated areas are symbolized by flowers and plants. The table bears an inscription: “Keep the hearts which you have won." Russia’s glass production did not stay on the sidelines but also sought out new technologies and artistic forms.. The Imperial Glass Factory in St Petersburg created articles which were in no way inferior to what appeared in Paris and frequently surpassed the French in terms of purity of form and the manner of placing ornamentation. Although the old production centers found it more difficult to keep up with contemporary trends, artistic enterprises with longstanding traditions such as the Sèvres Porcelain Works and the Gobelin Manufactory or the Royal Copenhagen and Petersburg Imperial Porcelain Factories found ways of modernizing their products, improving their technologies and inventing new forms and decorations. Both the Petersburg and Copenhagen factories set up new production of statuettes, which, in Russia, were based on designs by well-known contemporary artists such as M. Vrubel, K. Somov and S. Sudbinin. It was natural that Art Nouveau looked to the female form for the personification of everything beautiful, mysterious and sensual. The table decoration Dance with Scarves by Agathon Leonard carried this embodiment of femininity to perfection. The generalized image of a lady was based on the famous dancer Lois Fuller, and the positioning of the body creates a musical rhythm of fluid lines. This elegant statuette was made at the Sèvres Porcelain Works for the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. In 1901 fifteen sculptures of this composition were presented by the French Government to Nicholas II and his spouse during their visit to Paris. One other diplomatic present from French President Raymond Poincaré is four tapestries in the series entitled The Four Seasons produced at the Gobelin Manufactory in Paris shortly after 1910. The female forms which embody the seasons were made according to cartoons prepared by the famous poster artist Jules Cheret. The theme of beauty and femininity also appeared in the art of fashion design. When preparing their clothing models, the Art Nouveau masters also looked for a fluid, moving line - an effect which they created by the layering of capes made from tulle and lace, and boas made of fur and ostrich feathers, all set on a background of iridescent textiles embroidered with spangles and glass beads. Fashion accessories included brooches, clasps, necklaces, earrings, and fans which were created by the leading artists including the famous Art Nouveau era jeweler René Lalique. The European Art Nouveau acquired adherents in America as well. One example is the work of world-renowned Louis Comfort Tiffany, who invented an iridescent glass of the Antique or Venetian variety and so-called Favril glass. It was precisely works of glass, that pliable material, which most clearly embodied Art Nouveau. Glass was used to made wonderful stained glass windows which may be compared with the masterpieces of the Middle Ages, while they also reflected the ideas of the new style in art. A stained glass window with magnolia design made in the Tiffany workshop was purchased for Baron Stieglitz’s art school in 1901. The elegant lines of the design combine with the various forms of glass – transparent, milky, matte – to create a work of amazing beauty. This permanent exhibition of Art Nouveau has been organized through the joint efforts of the Department of Western European Art and the Department of the History of Russian Culture. The exhibition’s curators are deputy director of the Department of Western European Art Tamara V. Rappe and deputy director of the Department of the History of Russian Culture Natalya Yu. Guseva. |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
