Anton Seder: Major Designer of Art Nouveau

 Art Nouveau was very popular art form inspired by natural forms that began in 1890. It was the most popular from then until 1910.The style was represented by flattened and abstract objects with sinuous and flowing forms. 

A highly recognized artist, designer and art professor in this form was Anton Seder (1850-1916). He was born in Munich, Germany and trained as a painter, sculptor and architect. Later, he became the first director of the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, founded in 1890, in Strasbourg, Alsace. (now France)

Three years after becoming the director, Seder would submit the winning design for a new building to house the school. It is a beautiful campus and the building looks quite imposing. Here's a couple of photographs to try and capture his hand in Art Nouveau. (If you're a fan of this art form, you might enjoy visiting there on your travels.)

 

 

Besides Seder's teaching and his design for the school, he was also involved in gold and iron works for a church and wrote at least 10 books in 11 years! His books are still available and as recently as 2020 there was a calendar printed of his Art Nouveau designs.

Alas, post WW1, there was a shift in the "modern" style of art towards Art Deco. In many ways, it's the opposite of Art Nouveau with its geometric patterns and Asian influences. Seder would live long enough to be criticized as his work went out of style, but not long enough for him to evolve. He was such a brilliant man, one can only wonder what he might have done.

 

 

Victor Horta: Architectural Innovator of Art Nouveau

 In this blog, I have written about painters, sculptors, and printers but little about architects. It was not an oversight. It was because many avant garde architects such as Gaudi and Gehring have been widely recognized. Then, I came across Victor Horta (1861-1947) who has been called, "the key European Art Nouveau Architect." 

 

Born in Ghent, Belgium, Horta was educated in music, art, design and architecture. Early in his career, he began to work with iron and glass - often thought of as hard and angular materials. Horta designs wove them into sinuous shapes for both the exterior and interior. 

 

 

He designed a few houses, but quickly moved on to designing public buildings. His signature design was the whiplash curves which you can see in the photos here. These have a certain feeling of plant tendrils and became part of the description of the Art Nouveau period. 

  After WWI, Horta moved from the curving, sweeping style to a more geometrical one. This evolution would lead to Art Deco and Modernism. However, modernist felt no connection to Horta's Art Nouveau style and several of his buildings were demolished in the 1960s. 

 

UNESCO stepped in and preserved some of Horta's houses and buildings as World Heritage Sites. We are lucky to have these beautiful designs.

 

Here's more examples of the detail in Horta's works: