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The Origins of Art Nouveau Architecture
An in-depth film that explores Horta's Architectural legacy and the beginnings of art nouveau with writer and curator Paul Greenhalgh. Seen as a major breakthrough of modern architecture in the 1890s. Tracing its origins to Victor Horta’s house for the scientist and professor Émile Tassel, this film visits and explores Horta’s four major townhouses—Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, Hôtel van Eetvelde, and Maison & Atelier Horta (Horta Museum as it is today) —remarkable and pioneering works of Art Nouveau architecture.
Time Period:
19th century
Themes:
Professor Paul Greenhalgh is a specialist on the art and design of the Modern period. He has written widely on Art Nouveau and curated several exhibitions including the major survey Art Nouveau 1890-1914, which toured internationally (2000-01). His books include Ephemeral Vistas (1988), Modernism in Design (1990), Art Nouveau 1890–1914 (2000), The Modern Ideal (2005), Fair World (2011), L’Art Nouveau: La Revolution Decorative (2013), Ceramic Art and Civilisation (2021) and Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of Youth (2022). He has held positions as Head of Research at the V&A Museum, London; President and Director at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Director of the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich; and Inaugural Director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, London. He was born and raised in Bolton, and is a proud Lancastrian.
4:10
What is: Ceramic Art?
Paul Greenhalgh celebrates the richness of one of the world’s most fundamental arts.
10:30
Building Fleet Street: The Golden Age of Newspapers
The golden age of newspapers was also the heyday of Art Deco. Edwin Heathcote tours Fleet Street's iconic press headquarters.
4.14
What is: Land Art?
Ben Tufnell maps out a definition of Land Art.
4:10
Paul Greenhalgh celebrates the richness of one of the world’s most fundamental arts.
10:30
The golden age of newspapers was also the heyday of Art Deco. Edwin Heathcote tours Fleet Street's iconic press headquarters.
4.14
Ben Tufnell maps out a definition of Land Art.
9:08
Tristram Hunt traces how Josiah Wedgwood changed the face of the decorative arts in Britain with his ambitious pottery designs.
12:27
Robert Storr tells the story of an artist couple born under the Soviet Regime.
5:20
Martin Gayford presents some of the mysteries behind one of art history’s most recognisable paintings: The Arnolfini Portrait.