Art Nouveau was an international movement, known as Modernista in Spain, Jugendstil in Germany, Secession in Austria and Slovenia, Stile Liberty in Italy
and – after the name of one of its exponents – Tiffany in the United States.
It rose to prominence in Barcelona and Brussels in the late 1880s thanks to the work of pioneering architects like Antoni Gaudi and Victor Horta, and went on
to influence all visual arts, especially the decorative arts. It also drew on the works and theories of the Englishman William Morris, who had drawn a strong
distinction between craftsmanship and the mass production of industry that was indifferent to aesthetic concerns.
Art Nouveau spread rapidly throughout Europe – in France it was propagated by Emile Gallé’s Ecole de Nancy – before declining in 1914, with the outbreak
of World War I. As fleeting as it was, this stylistic adventure – a reaction to the excesses of industrialisation – struck a chord: Art Nouveau offered extraordinary liberty, a joyous creative spirit and a comforting sense of enchanting possibility.