the weblog of robin camille davis

Charade (1963). Look at that beautiful Art Nouveau lamp. I want it bad. The movie — a romantic suspense  set in Paris — was pretty delightful, too. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn were such wonderful personalities.

Wings of Desire, or Der Himmel über Berlin (1987). Favorite line: “Time heals all… but what if Time itself is [...]

Source: Publishers’ Bindings Online, 1815–1930: The Art of the Book. University of Wisconsin–Madison. I highly recommend looking through their collection! Search string “art nouveau” gets 132 results, all of them delicious.
Which one of the above is your favorite?

Remember We’re Back? It came out in 1993. I had it on VHS and really liked it, even though Professor Screweyes’s Eccentric Circus gave me the willies. Anyway, I was thinking about it recently, and it occurred to me that the style of Professor Neweyes’s ship, from my vague childhood memories, seemed pretty turn-of-the-centuryesque. Was [...]

In case anybody asks you what Robin’s absolute favorite artistic movement is, it’s Art Nouveau. Quick summary: AN (1890–1915) is characterized by a Japanese influence, the primacy of the line, and a desire to stylize nature. Très aesthetic, and très reactionary against the stiff French art/architecture of the time. Some of my fave AN [...]

I accidentally came across a book on Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), an Art Nouveau illustrator, at my local library and was subsequently amazed. I love his use of line and shape and black and white! Check it out & click for bigger versions:

A lot of articles or blurbs about him say he’s infamous for his “erotic [...]