Alphonse Mucha

"After Alphonse Mucha presented his poster for Sarah Bernhardt's play, Gismonda in 1895(above), he became a celebrity. Spurning the bright colors and the more squarish shape of the more popular poster artists, the near life-size design was a sensation.

Living above a cremerie that catered to art students, drawing illustrations for popular (ie. low-paying) magazines, getting deathly ill and living on lentils and borrowed money, Mucha met all the criteria. It was everything an artist's life was supposed to be.

Some success, some failure. Friends abounded and art flourished. It was the height of Impressionism and the beginnings of the Symbolists and Decadents. He shared a studio with Gauguin for a bit after his first trip to the south seas."-- Jim Vadeboncoeur.

Mucha in his studio

Check this link from the Mucha's Foundation.

art nouveau is the form of the curl, the fold, the squiggle, the coil

tapestry (Morris)

photo of model posing for Mucha

wallpapper (Morris, arts & crafts)

furniture (and interior design) absorb the whole space

graphic design (Mucha)

AI architecture

this is what we have from 1890 to about 1910 in the West.

where does it come from?

nature,

what is art nouveau?

Whistler, Peacock Room (1976) Freer Gallery, Washington

Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and applied art, especially the decorative arts, that was most popular between 1890 and 1910.

1- reaction against 19th century academic art,
2- natural forms and structures,
3- curved lines of plants and flowers,

Staircase for the Salle du Theatre in the Grand Magazins (1905)

early medicinal advertising (anything works!)

Early medicinal ads used outrageous rhetoric to claim the virtues of drugs, cures, and products for health, beauty, or virility. Any enterprising could make, bottle label, and sell something that promised to renew lost vigor, promote longevity, cure baldness, or treat hysteria --often with the same ointment. 

cigarettes to help soothe asthma??

or this,

or this, 

heroin??

the reddish-brown and extremely bitter tincture of opium is called laudanum. it contains almost all of the opium alkaloids, including morphine and codeine, and its high morphine concentration makes it a potent narcotic. laudanum was historically used to treat various ailments, but its principal use was as an analgesic and cough suppressant. until the early 20th century, laudanum was sold without a prescription and was a constituent of many patent medicines.

pictorialism: photography as art

Edward Steichen, Pond, 1904

Above is the most expensive photograph auctioned so far, by American photographer Edward Steichen (Pond, New York City, 1904), which sold for 2.9 million in February 2006. At some point photographers deliberately made their photographs look like productions of other graphic media, most often prints. 

There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer has somehow manipulated what would otherwise be a straightforward photograph as a means of "creating" an image rather than simply recording it. Typically, a pictorial photograph appears to lack a sharp focus (some more so than others), is printed in one or more colors other than black-and-white (ranging from warm brown to deep blue) and may have visible brush strokes or other manipulation of the surface (from Wikipedia).

This superficial similarity to the representational quality of accepted media was a direct appeal to artistic tradition: the photograph had the look of an etching; an etching is art; so the photograph was art. 

Alfred Stieglitz, Portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918

Clarence White, The Watcher, 1906

Julia Margaret Cameron, Sadness (1864), a portrait of Ellen Terry, the American actress

Heinrich Künh (1907-10)

Pierre Dubreil, L'Opera, 1909

Frederick Evans, portrait of Aubrey Beardsley, 1894

the gibson girls! (female anthropology?)

The First Quarrel, by Charles Dana Gibson, creator of the first American pin-up girl. He also established the prototype of the square-jawed man, which lasted throughout the mid-1900s. 

 

here is a good video by Watts atelier about Gibson.

 

The weaker sex II, 1900.

hereeeeere's honoré daumier (the political satirist)

this is a caricature of "Tragala" a character in the play Vingt ans plus tard ("twenty years later"). 

daumier is depicting the King Louis-Philippe as the actor emmanuel lepeintre in his role (Tragala) in the play. the big belly represented a perfect similarity to the king's own figure. the king wears the uniform of a police-officer (chef des alguazils).

study of faces (daumier would use these for his political lampooning)

daumier, past, present, future

daumier gets to the truth of the subject matter! just the exact amount of detail to get to the essence of character.  

Daumier is part of the naturalist movement, which is a reaction against the idealized and stylized paintings of the Romantic era. naturalists were also about recording things as they are, but they paid more attention to getting the precise details just right. 

there's a bit of pessimism reflected in the idea of man's futility against nature (some of daumier's religious paintings may suggest this).

THIS SITE IS A TREASURE.

Gustave Doré, the genius of romantic illustration

gustav doré, from dante's inferno

gustave doré is my favorite romantic designer.

here are some of doré's famous illustrations.

divine comedy: paradise.

divine comedy: inferno.

let's make clear that doré was not a block-cutter, these are his drawings (or designs). at the height of his career some 40 block-cutters were employed to cut his drawings onto the wooden printing blocks, usually also signing the image.

Owen Jones' The Grammar of Ornament

Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a British architect. A versatile architect and designer, he was also one of the most influential design theorists of the nineteenth century. He helped pioneer modern colour theory, and his theories on flat patterning and ornament still resonate with contemporary designers today. He rose to prominence with his studies of Islamic decoration at the Alhambra, and the associated publication of his drawings, which pioneered new standards in chromolithography. (WIKIPEDIA)

Owen Jones's illustrated plates and design motifs drew from nineteen different cultures including the ornament of Oceania, Rome, Byzantium, ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, Rome, and Moorish Spain. The Grammar was adapted to architectural decoration, fabrics, textiles, tile design, furniture and wallpaper during the second half of the nineteenth century. 

The book feels a bit like anthropology:

and the history of design. Jones' narrative is quite engaging. 

Owen Jones' Grammar of Ornament (1856) is one of the most influential design books of the 19th century. It played a crucial role in shaping architectural, decorative, and industrial design by promoting principles of good design drawn from historical and global sources. 

Here’s why it is important: 

1. Groundbreaking Design: Theory Grammar of Ornament introduced 37 key design principles, emphasizing harmony, simplicity, and structure in decoration. Advocated for design rules based on historical and natural patterns, influencing generations of designers and architects. 

2. Global Influence on Decorative Arts: Jones studied and documented ornamental styles from different cultures, including Egyptian, Islamic, Greek, Roman, Indian, and Gothic motifs. Encouraged designers to move beyond classical European traditions and embrace non-Western aesthetics. 

3. Pioneering Use of Color Printing: One of the first books to use chromolithography, making it a visually stunning resource. Helped revolutionize color theory in design, promoting vibrant, historically accurate palettes. 

4. Impact on the Arts and Crafts & Art Nouveau: Inspired figures like William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, who embraced handcrafted beauty and historical influences. Its emphasis on natural forms and geometric patterns influenced Art Nouveau and modern decorative design. 

5. Educational and Industrial Impact:  Became a reference book for architects, designers, and manufacturers, guiding 19th-century industrial design. Influenced the Victoria and Albert Museum’s approach to design education and collection curation. It was originally published in installments for subscribers. 

Here is a great site for the book.

Graphic design does................. Circus!

Circus Poster, late 19th century

                                                                                    kirki, marius and dudule (new york)

                                                            nelson, glinsereti and demonio (florida)

alive without a skull??

 

the lucasie family of holland, (circa 1857)

the boy with four legs (or six limbs)

martin laurello, the human owl (1918)

the wolfman and the camel girl

mr, Johnson, the elephant trainer, 

vallecita's leopards (she was a well known female leopard tamer)

presented as "daring women" 

jules leótard the trapezeist, (the inventor of the leotard)

barnum and bailey

Here's why THE CIRCUS REALLY MATTERS! IT WAS COOL AND POPULAR 

Mass entertainment

Reflection of societal values, 

Symbol of technological and artistic innovation. 

Popular Entertainment for All Classes The circus was one of the first genuinely mass entertainments, attracting audiences from working-class spectators to aristocrats. It provided an affordable escape from industrial life, offering a mix of thrills, comedy, and spectacle. Circuses like P.T. Barnum’s and Ringling Bros. expanded through railroads, reaching rural and urban audiences across Europe and America. The traveling big-top tent, introduced in the 1820s, allowed performances in towns without permanent venues. 

Spectacle, Exoticism, and Imperialism IT WAS FUN! Circuses often showcased exotic animals and "curiosities." Performers worldwide, including Japanese acrobats and Indian fakirs, fascinated audiences and shaped perceptions of non-Western cultures. 

Innovation in Performance and Physical Feats Acrobats Included tightrope walkers, clowns, and trick riders, pushed the boundaries of human ability, inspiring later theatrical and cinematic stunt work. 

The modern clown persona, developed by figures like Joseph Grimaldi, became a staple of popular culture. What would Picasso's Pink period be without clowns! 

The circus influenced other art Forms, such as literature, painting, and later film Writers like Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe referenced circus life in their works. Artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Pablo Picasso depicted circus performers, emphasizing its emotional and symbolic depth. 

Why did it disappear? Concerns over animal welfare and the exploitation of "freak shows" began to emerge. Again. It's all social. 

the daguerrotype

Edgar A. Poe's daguerrotype

are you into edgar allan poe? how do you express poeian?

temporal loveliness approaches the perfection of eternal beauty, and theoretically at least the corpse of the dead woman briefly incarnates an ideality. but because death also entails physiological decay, the beauty of the just-departed implies a subsequent and inevitable mutation to loathsomeness…. 

daguerreotype is a unique photographic image allowing no reproduction of the picture. the image is formed by amalgam i.e. a combination of mercury and silver. 

 poe's last epitaph. 

photo as anthropology: The Pencil of Nature

In The Pencil of Nature (1844–1846) Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the negative-positive process, reflects on various applications of the new medium and presents them using photographic examples.

Check out this exhibit.

Talbot's Pencil of Nature, the first commercially published book illustrated with photographs became a milestone in the art of the book greater than any since Gutenberg's invention of moveable type. 

Issued in fascicles from June 1844 through April 1846, The Pencil of Nature contained twenty-four plates, a brief text for each, and an introduction that described the history and chemical principles of Talbot's invention. 

The photographs and texts proposed, with extraordinary prescience, a wide array of applications for the medium that included 1. reproducing rare prints and manuscripts, 2. recording portraits, 3. inventorying possessions, 4. representing architecture, 5. tracing the form of botanical specimens, and 6. making art. 

The publication, however, was not a commercial success, and as sales declined with each new fascicle, Talbot abandoned the project just before the seventh group of plates was made. Approximately forty complete or substantially complete copies survive; the Museum's example belonged to Talbot's daughter Mathilde.