INT331: History of Interiors

Art Nouveau in the United States had a lot to do with revoking the traditional European style and creating a new, unique American style. The two main designers who seemed to lead the movement in the United States were Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lewis Henry Sullivan.  Louis Comfort Tiffany was a notable painter, glass worker, and very good with decorative arts. He was known to be the one to bring Art Nouveau to the United States from Europe, after attending the great exposition and visiting the Art Nouveau booth. Some of his designs that he created afterwards were sent back to Europe and sold in the original Art Nouveau shop. After some time, his work was also put on display at the Art Institute in Chicago. Lewis Henry Sullivan came to Chicago after the great fire to rebuild. He was known for some of the first skyscrapers ever to be designed, because he looked at the idea of building vertically, rather than horizontally. His designs were very detailed and ornamented, and can be se...

Art Nouveau, is literally translated to "New Art". It was a brand new movement around the turn of the century that rejected all histories of other movements and eras, and brought forth it's own. It differed from the Arts and Crafts movement in many ways, but the first was that it was highly ornamented. The forms found in the Art Nouveau era of architecture and design, were inspired by nature and then stylized. The major art of architecture, was united with minor arts, rejecting historical precedents. Another difference from Arts and Crafts was the embraced use of technology and the manufacturing process within the Art Nouveau movement. Materials such as iron and glass were used as well as mosaic tile patterns and stenciled designs on walls and ceilings. The sure sign that a design is inspired by Art Nouveau is the whiplash motif, or exaggerated curvilinear forms. The entrance to the subway in Paris. Designed by Art Nouveau designer: Hector Guimard. Horta House...

The Arts and Crafts movement, both in America and internationally, was an era of the return to simplicity, fine craftsmanship, and anything handmade. It came out of the Victorian era, one of excess and extreme decoration, and changed design in a revolutionary way. Many designers and architects within this movement, also found themselves captivated by Japanese design and architecture, as well as anything Gothic. The architecture of residential homes in this era was influenced by Philip Webb's idea that the exterior elements were just a result of the inward function of a building. The windows related to the activity of the rooms rather than the look of the facade. Interior design in this time period was heavily influenced and inspired by the ideas of William Morris and his firm, Morris and Company. Not only did the firm design simplistic furniture and houses, but they created beautiful wallpapers and other textiles that had "character and depth". Some of the popular design...