19 Comments

I love this Article!!!!! My heart is doing the shimmy. It is sacred labor to search and depict, and bring beauty to the earth. I am classic artist. Lately even paint portraits on rocks because I love the organic shapes of them, smoothed down by eons of weather and water. I am repelled by the boxes and squares and rectangles of our towns and cities, and homes. Love the Art Nouveau "consciousness" or endeavor. I love the balanced use of line and curve that the example artist shows of the Arthur stories. I love balance in all things. Bringing BACK to balance, like Nature strives to, and does actually, and was brilliantly designed to. It's creativeness at it's highest. Not only physical design, but of all Fine Art, lit, music, dance, theater. Love of Beauty is the highest choice of mankind's inherent creative powers. Notice how many times I used the word, love. One day we must return to Balance. Agree?

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Hard agree.

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I have stinging eyes from finding a site that boldly stands stage front for beauty. Thank you, thank you.

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Sep 4Liked by Culture Critic

Like unto an (artistic) interpretation of the Euthyphro dilemma...

Do the Gods love a piece of art because it is beautiful, or is the art beautiful because the Gods love it?

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Sep 4Liked by Culture Critic

I love Art Nouveau, it reminds me of the Elves in Rivendell from Tolkien's LOTR - such beautiful inspiration!

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Sep 5Liked by Culture Critic

Beauty raises our spirits and vibrations. Loved this article and the pictures that illustrate it.

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Beauty for the sake of beauty. Although quite different and more mechanical seeming, I’d put Art Deco on par with Art Nouveau as well. Fantastic article!

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Sep 4·edited Sep 4Liked by Culture Critic

🏆Alphonse Mucha!🏆

Very much looking forward to that.

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BOTH

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Yes

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«Should objects be beautiful?» Yes, they should. It's a great sorrow that so much after industrialisation has promptly ceased to be anything more than functional. Thank you for raising the question.

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What lovely observations you make, and I am always amazed at the photos you find! I hope that we humans can find our way back to such beautiful craftsmanship, especially on that scale. It is my opinion that Communism intentionally worked to banish beauty from all art and architecture, coinciding with the early 20th century.

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I am a huge fan of Art Nouveau! It's the reason Paris is so beautiful. Great article!

Modern architecture is one of my pet peeves. Yes, objects should be beautiful, because what we see everyday has an effect on the whole atmosphere.

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How could you ignore William Morris (and his political worldview)?

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Morris is right before Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts movement. I'm sure the Critic will get to that interesting time, also.

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As Oscar Wilde said:

"We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless."

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Absolutely! We live with them.

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