Art Nouveau: the French Aesthetic
by Victor Arwas
Rarely has a book of this stature served a subject. Five years in the making, it covers all aspects of Art Nouveau in France in 624 authoritative pages and 740 illustrations.
Art Nouveau was controversial even in France. It took its name from the Paris emporium opened by Siegfried Bing. Le Figaro denounced it as having “the smell of the Englishman, of the Jewess or the cunning Belgian.” (Sunday Telegraph)
Arwas traces the movement’s evolution as it developed, primarily in Nancy and Paris, with the help of carefully chosen illustrations, many never published before. Ranging from the 1900 Paris exhibition to paintings, graphics, and posters and such collecting fields as furniture, jewellery, ceramics, book bindings, and sculpture, the informative, witty text covers architecture, haute couture, and the role of women in Art Nouveau with a detailed look at such theatrical icons as Sarah Bernhardt, Loïe Fuller, and the Grandes Horizontales.
Destined to become the standard book on the subject, its content and design will appeal widely to the connoisseur, the specialist, the collector, and the novice, who will be introduced to the magical wonders of the style.
About the Author
“Victor Arwas died in 2010. Art Nouveau, the French Aesthetic, was his magnum opus. His conversation was always instructive and not pedantic. His taste was accurate as it was at times licentious; his appetite refined and insatiable; his humour at once generous and disabused. Without pretentiousness, he took art more seriously than life, though never solemnly. He also had an unequalled reputation for integrity and honesty, matching acumen with generosity and fidelity with fancy.” (The Guardian)
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