Art Nouveau (an anglicised term which is French for New Art) is an antique style of art and design that still shows its impressions on modern art today. Almost everything has been made in Art nouveau, decorative items, art nouveau furniture, silver nouveau, brass art nouveau are all regularly seen for sale in antiques shops and even modern shops.
Most popular at the start of the 20th century, Art Nouveau items are often dated over 100 years old, meaning that sometimes they can be expensive to buy or in poor condition. But this highly stylised era produced some exceptional art nouveau items that are still available today due to their hard-wearing long lasting constructions. Brass, silver and other metals have been used frequently and art nouveau furniture is often still available as it can be made from hard woods.
Featuring exceptional curvilinear lines and plant based designs, Art nouveau quickly developed a following, you may even own a few art nouveau items without realising they were such! The movement originally came from a small French shop, housing design items that tied in with Siegfriend Bing's ideals - he ran the shop at the time. But from this small design shop art nouveau spread like wildfire, influencing many artistic and design focused people. Within 10 years almost all contemporary shops housed some sort of art nouveau items, whether it was art nouveau furniture or art nouveau crockery, silverware or tableware.
As the ideas of Art nouveau spread around the world each designer added a little of their own creation to the style. Antoni Gaudi is a name you are likely to have heard, he has become world famous for his designs and architecture throughout Barcelona, where art nouveau items are known as modernisme. There are some exceptional art nouveau items for sale in the uk, in online auction houses - that's what we have here, a handpicked selection of the finest examples of art nouveau available for sale as we speak!