Annotated Mona Lisa, The - Strickland, Carol [69]
Use of cast iron spread after mid-century, permitting buildings to be bigger, more economical, and fire-resistant. Many buildings with cast iron facades still stand in New York’s SoHo district, and the United States Capitol dome was constructed of cast-iron in 1850-65. After 1860, when steel was available, vast spaces could be enclosed speedily. The invention of the elevator allowed buildings to grow vertically as well as horizontally, preparing for the advent of the skyscraper.
The greatest marvel of engineering and construction of the age was the Eiffel Tower. Built as the central feature of the 1889 Paris Exhibition, at 984 feet it was the world’s tallest structure. The Tower consisted of 7,300 tons of iron and steel connected by 2.5 million rivets. It became a daring symbol of the modern industrial era.
ARTS AND CRAFTS. Countering the growing prestige of Industrialism was the Arts and Crafts Movement led by British author and designer William Morris (1834-96). Throughout Europe and America, the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late nineteenth century influenced decorative arts from wallpaper and textiles to book design. The group advocated a return to the handicraft tradition of art “made by the people, and for the people, as a happiness to the maker and the user.”Morris succeeded temporarily in reviving quality in design and craftsmanship, which was threatened with extinction by mass production. He did not, however, achieve his goal of art for the masses. Handmade objects were simply too expensive.
The Arts and Crafts Movement was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an earlier English art group formed in 1848 to restore art to the “purity” of Italian art before Raphael. It included the painters W H. Hunt,
J. E. Millais, and D. G. Rossetti.
Morris, “Cray” chintz, 1884, Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
ART NOUVEAU
Art Nouveau, which flourished between 1890 and World War I, was an international ornamental style opposed to the sterility of the Industrial Age. Art Nouveau relied upon twining, flowering forms to counter the unaesthetic look of machine-made products. Whether called Jugendstil (Youth Style) in Germany, Modernista in Spain, Sezessionstil in Austria, Stile Liberty in Italy, or Style Moderne in France, Art Nouveau was easily recognizable by its sinuous lines and tendrillike curves. It was used to maximum effectiveness in the architecture of Antonio Gaudi (see p. 65) and the Belgian Victor Horta, and in interior design of the period in general. Art Nouveau’s trademark water lily shape exerted a pervasive influence on the applied arts such as wrought-iron work, jewelry, glass, and typography.
BEARDSLEY: AESTHETIC DECADENCE. Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98) was an illustrator whose curvilinear drawings ideally reflect Art Nouveau design. Beardsley’s black-and-white illustrations for his friend Oscar Wilde’s Salome caused a sensation when the book was published. In one illustration, Salome kisses the severed head of John the Baptist, whose dripping blood forms a stem. The drawing’s perverse eroticism typified fin-de-siècle decadence. Beardsley eliminated shading in his graphic art, contrasting black and white patterns in flowing, organic motifs.
Tiffany studios, “Grape Vine,” 1905, MMA, NY. Tiffany’s Art Nouveau works in stained glass reflected his two passions: nature and color.
TIFFANY: GLASS MENAGERIE. The epitome of Art Nouveau’s creeping-vine motif was the glasswork of American Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). Tiffany’s lamps cascaded with stained-glass wisteria, his vases blossomed into lotuses, and his stained-glass windows dripped clusters of grapes. Whatever the object, all Tiffany designs were bowers of willowy leaves and petals in gleaming colors.
Son of the founder of New York’s Tiffany’s jewelers, Tiffany studied painting, then designed stained-glass windows for churches. When he replaced martyrs and saints with poppies and peacocks, his work became immensely popular. In the floral, landscaped windows celebrating nature’s profusion, Tiffany created