Volume 3, Number 6 · November 5, 1964
Art Nouveau
By John Richardson
Art Nouveau
by Robert Schmutzler, translated by Edouard Roditi
Abrams, 322 pp., $25.00
'It smells like a vicious Englishman, a Jewess addicted to morphine, a Belgian scoundrel, or a nice salad of these three poisons.' Arsène Alexandre's sneer (Figaro, 1895) reveals that even at its height art nouveau was thought to be decadent, vulgar, immoral, and, worst of all, foreign. Each country disowned it. In England and America it was dubbed 'art nouveau,' in France 'modern style,' or 'yachting style,' and in Italy 'Liberty style' (after the London store). Only the Germans invented a word for it in their own language: 'Jugendstil,' but they also nicknamed it 'Bandwurmstil' (tapeworm style).
Review, 2217 words
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