Module 5

Art Nouvea was an international decorative style that thrived for two decades at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. It encompassed a large variety of the design arts from architecture, furniture and product design, to fashion and graphics, influencing the posters, packages and advertising as a whole. The key visual quality of Art Nouveau is an organic plantlike line. There is a sense of a flowing energy or line throughout it as it forms, decorates, and modifies a given space.  Vine tendrils, birds, and the human female were frequent motifs from which this fluidity was developed.

Ukiyo-e was a Japanese art movement that took place around the time that Japan was first joining the world stage. It was an artistic style that was noted for it's prolific printing from woodblocks and screens. The flow and line of this style had a major impact on many European artists who would develop Art Nouveau.
Kitagawa Utamaro was a great example of a Japanese artist who embodied many of the traits and subject fixations that characterized the Art Nouvea movement. He had a great observation of nature and the female form. His work often included birds and plants, as well as many depictions of the female form.