Liberty - Art Nouveau
INTRODUCTION:
I AM INCLUDING IN THIS PRESENTATION PICTURES OF THE FRIEZES AND NOT OF THE FIREPLACES THEMSELVES SINCE SAID PART OF THE FIREPLACE IS CERTAINLY EXPLANATORY OF THE (FLORAL) DISCUSSION I WILL MAKE BELOW.
DO YOU SEE THESE FIREPLACES?
THEY ARE NOT REALLY ART NOUVEAU, AT LEAST IN THE SENSE THAT THEY WERE BUILT ALMOST FIFTY OR A HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE THE ART NOUVEAU STYLISTIC PERIOD...
YET...
YET SAID LOUIS XV FIREPLACES WITH FLORAL AND/OR LEAF DECORATION REPRESENTED THE BEGINNING OF THE ART NOUVEAU STYLISM ITSELF, SO MUCH SO THAT, INITIALLY, THIS STYLISM WAS CALLED "FLORAL ART."
NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT IN THE ART NOUVEAU PERIOD (WHICH CAN BE MADE TO BEGIN IN THE 1880S-90S AND LAST UNTIL THE 1920S...), MANY CUSTOMERS, FEARFUL OF TOO HEAVY STYLISTIC-DECORATIVE VARIATIONS, INCLUDED FIREPLACES LIKE THESE IN THEIR ART NOUVEAU HOMES, WHICH WERE AFTER ALL VERY “JUST RIGHT” ALSO BECAUSE OF THEIR SINUOUS AND SOFT ARCHITECTURE, CHARACTERISTIC OF ART NOUVEAU.
THEREFORE, ANYONE WHO DESIRES AN ART NOUVEAU FIREPLACE FOR THE FURNISHING OF HIS HOME WILL CERTAINLY NOT COMMIT IMPURE ACTS IF HE DECIDES TO MAKE ONE OF THESE FLORAL FORERUNNERS OF ART NOUVEAU STYLISM HIS OWN; INDEED, I BELIEVE THAT SUCH AN ACT WOULD BE A JUST RECOGNITION FOR THIS FAMILY OF FIREPLACES THAT CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH TO THE BIRTH OF THIS STYLE.
THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO SEE THESE AND OTHER SUCH FIREPLACES, GO TO OUR LUIGI XV SECTION, AND PERHAPS YOU WILL FIND “YOUR” ART NOUVEAU FIREPLACE, ALBEIT OF FULLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY CARVING...
