Nature and organic motifs were the axis of Art Nouveau.Rafael As Martins / UNSPLASH.
Characteristics of Art Nouveau
The main and most notoristic characteristic of Art Nouveau is the inspiration in nature, from animals, vegetation, flowers, shells, bones, among others. However, such inspiration did not mean literally its elements, but reinterpret the undulations, plasticities and natural aestheticsso hyperbolic and parabolic slabs (those with curvatures), as well as facades with vaulted ornamentations were recurring attributes.
Such natural overturning also had an impact on the classic righteousness, since the movement prioritized the curved line on the line, under the premise that such orthogonality was not typical of the naturally beautiful. Therefore, The undulations were indispensable in the designs, from the architecture itself, to the details presented at the Balconies, doors, windows, ornamentation and even furniture. In this way, the use of the so -called «whiplash curve» that finished off the semi straight lines, made of iron, with an undulation on itself. In sum, there was a concern about dynamism in the aforementioned ornamentations. Unlike baroque current, which also worried about giving movement through ornaments saturation, Art Nouveau did it through asymmetry, once again, curves and organic plasticity.
The concrete, steel, iron, entryd glass and wood were the most important materials of Art Nouveau.EFREM EFRE / PEXELS.
What materials does Art Nouveau use?
As mentioned above, Art Nouveau was a movement that took advantage of the advantages that industrialization providedso he quickly took over new materials and exploded them formally. For example, reinforced concrete was a vital component for its designs because its constructive characteristics allowed us to perfectly emulate the bones or gaps that inspired the movement. Steel and iron, on the other hand, served as structural elements, as their resistances allowed to lighten the constructions, as well as decorations that oscillated as plant stems or trunks of trees inside and outside the buildings. Like everything in good architecture, lighting is essential, and in the Art nouveau The innovative glass in circular forms was used, in addition to that it entered to maximize the biological effect of the designs.