Monday, June 29, 2009

Illustration - Eugene Karlin

Another illustrator whose work had an art nouveau feel, was Eugene Karlin, who just passed away in 2003 at 84. For many years his drawings were very common in magazine ads, and I saved a few.



















Thursday, June 25, 2009

Illustration - David McCall Johnston


A number of illustrators work in the art nouveau style, borrowing elements to combine with their own personal elements. 


Here is some work by David McCall Johnston. He has a nice website, but I don't see any of his art nouveau style work there.




















Monday, June 22, 2009

Ode to Leaves - Art Nouveau textbook primer


I was able to visit the Alphons Mucha Museum in Prague recently, and I highly recommend it! A great collection with lots of his early and late works, and much explanation. Information on the museum: http://www.mucha.cz/

One discovery was that his original posters were often in muted tones, beautiful but the prints made from them usually intensify the colors, and I like them that way even better.

Another thing I learned is that Mucha compiled a book on how to create art nouveau in his later years. Mucha's book has been translated into English. It is available here, from Dover: Mucha's Figures Decoratives

Another Dover book includes just the images from that book. I don't know why they did this, as they are almost the same price. I do own this one, and the illustrations are indeed nice. A lot of examples of figure-drawing (Mucha was classically-trained), but also many patterns and textures. It  is available here: The Art Nouveau Style Book of Alphonse Mucha

Here is one example illustration:















Friday, June 19, 2009

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Dover Books - a great resource


There are many beautiful high-quality books on Art Nouveau, some of which will be reviewed here later. But let me recommend a wonderful low-cost possibility. I know when I was a struggling art student, these source-books were my main introduction (along with the excellent libraries at a couple art schools). A great source of multiple Art Nouveau images for study and use are available from the books produced by Dover Publications. There are many. Here are some favorites:



From: Treasury of Art Nouveau Design & Ornament by Carol Belanger Grafton - Purchase it here








From: Art Nouveau: An Anthology of Design and Illustration from "The Studio" by Edmund V. Gillon Jr. - Purchase it here

































From: Grasset's Art Nouveau Flower and Plant Designs  by Eugene Grasset - Purchase  it here







Monday, June 8, 2009

David Lance Goines




David Lance Goines, Berkeley's fine poster artist and lithographer, often works in the art nouveau / arts and crafts style. You can see much more of his work at his website http://www.goines.net/ , including larger versions of his posters, and even buy some.



Friday, June 5, 2009

Contemporary Art Nouveau Style Art - T_a_r_o_t Decks

Not "pure" Art Nouveau, but luscious and beautiful.

A new T_a_r_o_t set: http://www.mary-el.com/




























A gorgeous Aquarian T_a_r_o_t set by David Palladini,

which can be purchased here: 
New Palladini T_a_r_o_t Deck & Book Set

















and I see that he's just designed a new T_a_r_o_t Deck as well! See it here.


Here's a example from a T_a_r_o_t Deck that includes cards by Palladini, 

along with cards by artists in a similar style. See the deck here.











Contemporary Art Nouveau Style Furniture

Before looking into the famous historical works of Art Nouveau, I'd like to give recognition to some artists working in the style today. Art Nouveau style is extravagant, so such objects are not the most economical. Yet some artists still are producing gorgeous work. When I had the opportunity to furnish a house some years ago,  it was difficult to find anything in the art nouveau style - I wound up buying reproductions, which are very nice indeed, but it's nice just to see beautiful original work. So here are some wonderful contemporary artists whose work is influenced by art nouveau, or that at least might fit into an art nouveau decor:


Erik Schjeide - http://www.erikschjeide.com/carvedfurniturelinkwebsite.htm


































John Hein - http://pluto.njcc.com/~jhein/


Paul Reiber - http://www.mendocinowoodworking.com/PaulReiber/

(and the whole website has beautiful work)

http://www.mendocinowoodworking.com/


William Doub - http://www.customfurniture-doub.com/


Sam Maloof - there are several memorial sites for him, but none seem to have a good collection of his work.

The best way to see it for now seems to be to do a google image search for his name.


Martin Pierce - http://www.martinpierce.com/


Emily Kate's Sofa:

http://www.homeportfolio.com/catalog/Product.jhtml?prodId=29547


Some pieces by Roger Heitzman:

http://www.heitzmanstudios.com/gallery2.html


And here are two gorgeous pieces I found in a catalog, but I can't discover whether they are still being made (sadly):