Best-Known Representative of Art Nouveau

Historical Information:

French architect (1867-1942)

Hector Guimard was an architect, who is now the best-known representative of the French Art Nouveau style of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Guimard’s critical reputation has risen since the 1960s, as many art historians have praised his architectural and decorative work, the best of ot done during a relatively brief fifteen years of prolific creative activity.

• 1885 Guimard begins studying at the Ecole Nationale et Speciale des Beaux-Arts in Paris
• 1891 Guimard becomes an Assistant professor in descriptive geometry, shadow, and perspective drawings
• 1892 Professor the following year in of the girl’s section

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Major Works:

• École du Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart School), Paris (1895)
• Castel Beranger, Paris (1895-98)
• Humbert de Romans Concert Hall and School, Paris (1897-1901; destroyed 1905)
• Entrances for the Paris Métropolitain (1899-1900)
• Castel Henriette, Sèvres, France (1899; destroyed 1969)
• Dining Room suite for the Hôtel Guimard, Paris (1909)
• Agoudas Hakehilos Synagogue, Paris (1913)

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Characteristics:

Hector Guimard is regarded as the leading exponent of the Art nouveau style, which is often called the “Style Guimard” in France.

His work is easy to distinguish amongst other practitioners of the style, with plastic, abstracted and sometimes bizarre vegetal and floral imagery in iron, glass, and carved stone that is usually twisted and bent into irregular and asymmetrical forms.

Guimard wanted to be seen as an “architecte d’art” – an expert in the techniques of all the arts. He saw “decoration” as the true essence of a building. Thus in the works Guimard created for the buildings of the Parisian middle class, and the Metro stations, he presents an architectural art that used the curved line and ornamental decoration to delight the public.

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Motifs & Ornamentation:

Guimard’s art objects have the same formal continuity as his buildings, harmoniously uniting practical function with linear design. His inimitable stylistic vocabulary suggests plants and organic matter, while remaining resolutely on the side of abstraction. Flexible moldings and a sense of movement are found in stone as well as wood carvings. Guimard created abstract two-dimensional patterns that were turned into stained glass (Mezzara hotel, 1910), ceramic panels (Coilliot house, 1898), wrought iron (Castel Henriette, 1899), wallpaper (Castel Béranger, 1898) or fabric (Guimard hotel, 1909).

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Influences on Other Designs:

• Viollet le Duc- French theorist best known for his work entertains
• ANATOLE de BAUDOT- a student of Viollet and Guimard’s master at Beaux- arts
• Victor Horta- Art Nouveau style architect of Belgian origin
• Jan Toorop- artist

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Contemporaries:

Hector Guimard was one of the leading representatives of the Art Nouveau movement in Paris, comparable to Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona of Victor Horta in Brussels.

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Videos:

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Interesting Facts:

• Though well-educated at the École nationale des arts décoratifs, and familiar with many of the leading French architectural theorists, Guimard attended but did not receive a diploma from the École des Beaux-Arts as was the norm for most French academic architects at the end of the 19^th century, and was often thought of during his lifetime as outside the mainstream of architectural practice.
• Guimard’s Paris Métro entrances are his signature work and classic emblems of Art Nouveau, which combine the movement’s embrace of nature as well as the advances of technology, standardization, and modernization. Their sinuous, unusual forms stand out against the typical street environments, making them ideal for their functions, and they have become worldwide icons for mass transit design.

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References:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hector-Guimard

http://www.art-nouveau-around-the-world.org/en/artistes/guimard.htm

God’s Architect

Architect (1852-1926)

• He was an Spanish architect born un Reus (Baix Camp, Catalonia)

• After leaving the school, he went to Barcelona

• He graduated as architect in 1878.

• Almost his entire professional activity took place in Barcelona.

Antoni Placid Guillem Comet became vegetarian at a young age. Spanish architect whose idiosyncratic work, characterized by undulating curves and richly colored scrambled textures, won wide international recognition only after the mid-20th century. Develop his unique style–blending elements of Gothic art, art nouveau, known as modernism in Catalonia, and functional structure. His favorite forms were inclined columns to add stress to ceilings, paraboloid arches, thin edge-butted tile vaults, and the richest, most colorful textures possible, often mosaics made of broken tile scraps. He didn’t draw his buildings, but made 3D models/sculptures. His nicknames was ‘God’s Architect’ due to the religious images in his work.

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Major Works:

• Casa Vicens (1877-83)
• Palau Güell (1886 – 88)
• Colònia Güell (1890 – 1918)
• Casa Batlló (1904 – 06)
• Two-person sofa for the Casa Batlló (1904-06)
• Parc Güell (1900-14)
• Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Família (1882 – present)

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Characteristics:

• Gauidi’s work employing organic or natural forms, curved or undulating lines, reclaimed materials, ceramic bricks, trenc adis mosaics
• He projects in such a way that the form does not become a mere stylistics caprice, but rather finds its reason for being in the function for which it was conceived
• He used steel inside of the building to reinforce his structure

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Motifs & Ornamentation:

Guadí’s fantastical style was informed by a number of influences, and was very much a result of the late 19th century architecture, when the requirement to follow strict historical styles was beginning to fall out of favor. As such, Gaudí was able to take inspiration from Oriental styles, and was heavily influenced by the Revival Gothic architecture of the time. However, he believed that Gothic architecture was “imperfect,” and began to infuse his work with a variety of motifs drawn from nature.

Having studied geometry in his youth, Gaudí followed advances in engineering and his work regularly features catenary curves, hyperbolic paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids, shapes which he used to create efficient structures.

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Influences on Other Designers:

• Victor Horta
• Hector Guimard
• Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
• Joan Martorell
• Josep Fontserè

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Contemporaries:

Architect Antoni Gaudí and Hector Guimard related themself with the Art Nouveau style and became famous for their expressive, organic-inspired designs, which commonly featured colorful flourishes and detailed iron- and glass work.

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Videos:

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Interesting Facts:

• Was unique, created his own unique style
• Never made plans, only 3D plans
• Never used straight lines, but curved lines

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References:

https://www.biography.com/people/antoni-gaud%C3%AD-40695

https://www.archdaily.com/519298/happy-birthday-antoni-gaudi