Jugendstil (German pronunciation: [ˈjuːɡn̩tˌstiːl] ; "Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany, Austria, and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German and Austrian counterpart of Art Nouveau. The members of the movement were reacting against the historicism and neo-classicism of the official art and architecture academies. It took its name from the art journal Jugend, founded by the German artist Georg Hirth. It was especially active in the graphic arts and interior decoration. Its major centers of activity were Munich, Vienna, Weimar and the Darmstadt Artists' Colony founded in Darmstadt in 1901. Important figures of the movement included the Swiss graphic artist Hermann Obrist, Otto Eckmann, the Belgian architect and decorator Henry van de Velde, as well as the Austrians Otto Wagner, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Gustav Klimt, and Koloman Moser, among others. In its earlier years, the style was influenced by the British Modern Style. It was also influenced by Japanese prints. Later, under the Secessionists' influence, it tended toward abstraction and more geometrical forms. From 1898 to 1903, the Vienna Secession, led by Gustav Klimt and Max Kurzweil published the journal Ver Sacrum, an important chronicle of many of the group's artistic contributions to the world of art and design. The Secession Building, completed in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich in Vienna, is widely regarded as one of Europes most noteworthy early modernist buildings in the style of the Vienna Secession.
History The movement had its origins in Munich with the founding of an association of visual artists in 1892, which broke away from the more formal historical and academic styles of the academy. Georg Hirth chose the name Munich Secession for the association. Later, the Vienna Secession, founded in 1897 and the Berlin Secession took their own names from the Munich group. The journal of the group, Jugend, begun in 1896, along with another Munich publication, Simplicissimus and Pan in Berlin, became the most visible showcases of the new style. The leading figures of this movement, including Peter Behrens, Bernhard Pankok, and Richard Riemerschmid, as well as the majority of the founding members of the Munich Secession, all provided illustrations to Jugend. In the beginning, the style was used primarily in illustrations and graphic arts. Jugendstil combined floral decoration and sinuous curves with more geometric lines, and soon was used for covers of novels, advertisements, and exhibition posters. Designers often created original styles of typeface that worked harmoniously with the image, such as the Arnold Böcklin typeface created in 1904. Otto Eckmann was one of the most prominent German artists associated with both Jugend and Pan. His favourite animal was the swan, and so great was his influence that the swan came to serve as the symbol of the entire movement. Another prominent designer in the style was Richard Riemerschmid, who made furniture, pottery, and other decorative objects in a sober, geometric style that pointed forward toward Art Deco. The Swiss artist Hermann Obrist, living in Munich, made designs with sinuous double curves, modeled after plants and flowers, which were a prominent motif of the early style.
Joseph Maria Olbrich and the Darmstadt Artists' Colony The Darmstadt Artists' Colony is a remarkable collection of Jugendstil buildings created beginning in 1899 by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse, a grandson of Queen Victoria, to promote both commerce and the arts. He brought together a group of designers to create his new community, including Peter Behrens, Hans Christiansen, and Joseph Maria Olbrich. The Colony architecture represented a complete break with the earlier floral style, and was much bolder in its design. Behrens and several of the other architects built their own houses there, and designed every detail, from the doorknobs to the dishes. The most impressive building of the Colony is the Ernst-Ludwig House, named for the Grand Duke, which contained the workshops of the artists. It was designed by Olbrich, with an entrance in the form of a three-quarter circle, flanked by two statues, Force and Beauty, by Ludwig Habich (1901).
Ålesund The Norwegian town of Ålesund suffered a disastrous fire on 23 January 1904. With the support of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany the town was reconstructed in Jugendstil by local Norwegian designers and architects. To honor Wilhelm, one of the most frequented streets of the town is named after him.
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