Art Nouveau in Belgium
Art Nouveau was born in Belgium in 1893, when Victor Horta built the Hôtel Tassel .
The style of Horta is very popular with the upper middle class who, after the Hotel Tassel, he ordered many mansions, then deploys in the sector then developing department stores, before making many emulators.
Belgian art nouveau is also essential in the school architecture with the works of Henri Jacobs then influences several European countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria.
History
The genesis
With the Tassel Hotel , built in 1893, Victor Horta intends to invent a new style, an “Art Nouveau”, and to react to the eclectic architecture in Belgium that dominated all the nineteenth century and was content to copy the past into the declining in various forms (pure eclecticism, Neo-Romanesque, neo-Gothic, neo-Renaissance Italian, Neo-Renaissance Flemish, Neo-Tudor, Neo-Baroque …).
The same year, Paul Hankar builds his personal home rue Defacqz in a “Geometric Art Nouveau” style very different from Victor Horta’s “Floral Art Nouveau”.
Success
The hotels of master
The style of Horta is very popular with the upper middle class, who after the Tassel Hotel , commissioned many mansions, such as the Hotel Frison (1894), the Hotel Winssinger (1894-1897), the Hotel Van Eetvelde (1895), the Hotel Deprez-Van de Velde (1895-1896), the Hotel Solvay (1898) …
In addition to these grand mansions, there are more modest residences such as the house-studio of the sculptor Fernand Dubois (1901-1903), the Sander Pierron House (1903), not to mention Horta’s personal home (1898-1901).
Department stores and department stores
The style of Victor Horta is also essential in the sector then in full development of the stores (with the stores Waucquez in 1906 and the stores Wolfers brothers in 1909) and department stores (with the Innovation in 1900 and the Grand Bazaar Anspach in 1903).
Schools
Art Nouveau is also essential in the teaching where the architect Henri Jacobs , emulating Victor Horta, was the author of about fifteen schools in the Brussels region.
Art Nouveau is particularly important in the secular education network, the neo-Gothic style triumphant in Catholic education.
Jacobs will be very productive with important achievements such as the Rodenbach School (1905-1911), the Josaphat School (1907), the former Koekelberg School for Girls (1907), the Vervloesem School (1909) and the Center. School of the Sovereign (1913).
Often at Jacobs, the school is articulated around a vast covered central courtyard with apparent metal structure.
The applied arts
Very quickly, Art Nouveau is essential in architecture but also in all disciplines of Belgian decorative arts: sculpture, stained glass, sgraffito , ceramics, furniture, wallpaper, lithography, goldsmith, jewelery …
The international influence of Belgian Art Nouveau
The Congo Exhibition in Tervuren in 1897
On the sidelines of the 1897 Universal Exhibition held in Brussels, King Leopold II organized an exhibition in Tervuren (near Brussels) to show the opportunities offered by the Congo , which was then his private property. This exhibition was divided into four sections whose design was entrusted respectively to Paul Hankar , Georges Hobé , Henry Van de Velde and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy . A hall of honor, designed by Hankar , was devoted to chryselephantine sculpture: you could admire the ivory carvings of some thirty sculptors.
The frame designed by Georges Hobé has been reassembled in the gardens of the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren .
In addition, some of the chryselephantine sculptures from the 1897 Exhibition can be admired in the windows of the “Magasin Wolfers” reconstructed at the Royal Museums of Art and History of Brussels 4 , including Charles Van’s superb mysterious Sphinx. der Stappen (1897).
The influence of Belgian Art Nouveau in Europe
The Brussels Art Nouveau strongly influenced France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Viennese Secession .
Victor Horta influenced the Parisian Hector Guimard (who traveled to Brussels in 1895 to meet Horta and Hankar) and the Viennese Otto Wagner , Henry van de Velde influenced Germany and the Netherlands, while the pioneers of Art Nouveau geometrical Brussels ( Paul Hankar and Georges Hobé ) influenced the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann .
But a few years later, the pupils of Hankar ( Paul Hamesse and Léon Sneyers ) were influenced in turn by the Viennese Secession, among others through the Palais Stoclet built in Brussels by the Viennese Josef Hoffmann .
The decline
The recovery of Art Nouveau by eclectism
Paradoxically, while Victor Horta intended to react to eclectic and “neo” styles, these styles will intrude into the Art Nouveau architecture of Brussels.
But this phenomenon will take several different forms:
some architects will create an Art Nouveau style tinged with classicism: Octave Van Rysselberghe , Jules Brunfaut , Paul Vizzavona
many architects will design buildings sometimes purely eclectic, sometimes purely Art Nouveau, sometimes Art Nouveau style tinged with eclecticism: Govaerts , Groothaert , Tilley , Delcoigne , the brothers Delune, Fastré , Lodewyck , Desruelles , Peereboom , Bral , De Lestre , Boelens , Fernand Lefever , Nelissen , J. Dosveld , etc .; the best example of this trend is Paul Saintenoy, who built a large Art Nouveau (” Old England “) department store, a neo-Renaissance pharmacy (“Delacre pharmacy”) and an eclectic building (“Caisse Générale de Reports and Deposits “).
finally most eclectic architects of the time will simply add Art Nouveau to the palette of styles they plagiate and integrate in their facades one or the other decorative element borrowed from Art Nouveau (ceramic, sgraffito …): this last phenomenon will contribute to the decline of Art Nouveau in Belgium by perverting and trivializing it.
The end of Art Nouveau in Belgium
We can consider that Art Nouveau died in Belgium with the First World War .
Mined by the rococo excesses of some architects like Gustave Strauven who end up tired, perverted and “recovered” by eclecticism, he gives way from 1919 to Art Deco and Modernism .
Only a very few architects continue to make Art Nouveau after 1918, like Fernand Lefever who still practiced this style until 1924.
On the other hand, it should be noted that several Belgian Art Nouveau architects, after the First World War, turned to Art Deco, in the first rank of which was Horta himself. The list of these architects and their Art Deco achievements can be found below.
Stylistic characteristics
“Floral Art Nouveau” and “Geometric Art Nouveau”
From the start, two different trends emerge:
the trend “Floral Art Nouveau” initiated by Victor Horta for architecture and Raphael Evaluate for the decorative arts, characterized by the famous “line in whiplash”, its sinuous lines inspired by the plant world and its stylized floral motifs, to the abundant decoration (and sometimes excessive as in Gustave Strauven which is not far from the ” Rococo style “) and which is paradoxically not always free from medieval reminiscences (clearly perceptible in Ernest Blerot for example)
the trend “Geometric Art Nouveau” initiated by Paul Hankar for architecture and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy for the decorative arts, characterized by a geometric and abstract decoration, more sober, but so much more modern: through its influence on the geometric current of the Viennese Secession and on the Nieuwe Kunst in Holland, it will lead to Art Deco .
The ornamental palette of Art Nouveau architecture
The Art Nouveau buildings are adorned with a wide variety of ornaments such as:
the sgraffiti whose specialists are Adolphe Crespin , Henri Privat-Livemont and Gabriel Van Dievoet
stone carving, represented by Pierre Braecke , collaborator of Victor Horta
ceramics, beautifully illustrated by Henri Privat-Livemont
wrought iron (balconies, grills …)
Mosaic
stucco
The protagonists of Art Nouveau in Belgium
Here is the list of artists and architects who are followers of Art Nouveau in Belgium, classified according to the beginning of their Art Nouveau production.
Decorative arts
Decorative Art Style “Floral Art Nouveau”
1893 Raphaël Evaluate (stained glass)
1893 Adolphe Crespin (lithograph, sgraffite)
1893 Henry Van De Velde (goldsmith, lithograph, furniture, wallpaper)
1894 Isidore De Rudder (ceramic)
1896 Henri Privat-Livemont (posters, sgraffito, ceramics, stained glass, painting)
1896 Emile Fabry (painting)
1896 Victor Rousseau (sculpture)
1897 Philippe Wolfers (goldsmith, jewelery)
1897 Charles Van Der Stappen (sculpture)
1897 Arthur Craco (ceramics, sculpture)
1897 Pierre Braecke (sculpture)
1897 Fernand Dubois (sculpture)
1897 Alfred Willy Finch (ceramic)
1898 Gabriel Van Dievoet (sgraffito)
1898 Henri Meunier (posters)
Célestin Joseph Helman (ceramics)
E. Houbion
Decorative Art Style “Geometric Art Nouveau”
1894 Gustave Serrurier-Bovy (furniture)
1897 Georges Hobé (furniture)
1900 Paul Cauchie (sgraffito)
Architecture
Architecture style “Floral Art Nouveau”
Brussels :
1893 Victor Horta
1894 Octave Van Rysselberghe
1895 Henry Van De Velde (see also section “Decorative Arts”)
1895 Alphonse Groothaert
1895 Jules Brunfaut
1897 Ernest Blerot
1897 Oscar Francois and the Great White House
1897 Leon Govaerts
1898 Georges Peereboom
1899 Paul Saintenoy
1899 Gustave Strauven
1899 Victor Taelemans
1899 Georges Delcoigne
1899 William Jelley
1899 Ernest Delune
1900 Benjamin De Lestré from Fabribeckers
1900 Albert Roosenboom
1900 Richard Pringiers
1902 Delightful Delune
1902 Constant Bosmans and Henri Vandeveld
1902 Jules Piermont
1902 Louis Bral
1903 Henri Jacobs
1903 Alex Desruelles
1904 Arthur and Auguste Toisoul
1904 Dominique Fastré
1904 Leon Delune
1905 Paul Vizzavona
1905 Emile Lambot
1905 Ernest Linard
1907 Joseph Purnelle
1909 N. Pourbaix
A.Lefèvre
Wallonia:
1896 Paul Jaspar (Liège)
1899 Alfred Frère (Charleroi)
1900 Jules Lalière (Namur – Salzinnes)
1901 Victor Rogister (Liège)
1904 Eugène Bodson (Pasture, Colfontaine, Quaregnon)
1905 Jules Micha (Liège)
1905 Jean Hocepied (Mouscron)
1906 Adolphe Ledoux (Namur – Legs)
1906 Gustave Fache (Mouscron)
1907 Achille Simon (Andenne)
1909 Clément Pirnay (Liège)
Paul Comblen (Liège)
Flanders:
1904 Jacques De Weerdt
Architecture style “Geometric Art Nouveau”
Brussels :
1893 Paul Hankar
1896 Armand Van Waesberghe
1897 Georges Hobé (see also section “Decorative Arts”)
1898 Paul Hamesse
1898 Édouard Pelseneer
1900 Leon Sneyers
1900 Benjamin De Lestré from Fabribeckers
1900 Fritz Seeldrayers
1900 Camille Damman
1901 Jean-Pierre Van Oostveen
1902 Franz Tilley
1902 Fernand Symons
1903 Victor Boelens
1903 Alphonse Boelens
1904 Jean-Baptiste Dewin
1904 Michel Mayeres
1905 Paul Cauchie (see also “Decorative Arts”)
1905 Fernand Lefever
1906 J. Dosveld
1907 Louis Couprie
1907 Edmond Lodewyck
1908 Adhémar Lener and Antoine Pompe
1910 Arthur Nelissen
Flanders:
1901 Emile Van Averbeke (Antwerp)
Wallonia:
1903 Emile François (Soignies and Braine-le-Comte)
1909 R. Magis (Andenne)
1914 Charles Trussart (Namur – Legs)
1914 Marshal (Amay)
1908 François Giuannotte (Charleroi)
Main Art Nouveau achievements in Belgium
Brussels
Art Nouveau is an artistic movement of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century that arises from a reaction against the European academic art of the nineteenth century. It is based on the aesthetics of curved lines, inspired by natural shapes and structures.
The Tassel Hotel in Brussels is often considered as the founding act of Art Nouveau 1 . Created by architect Victor Horta in 1893 , this building quickly emulates among his colleagues. Some of Brussels’ districts, such as Schaerbeek , Etterbeek , Ixelles and Saint-Gilles , were developed during the golden age of Art Nouveau and include many buildings of this style 2 .
Despite the many demolitions between the end of the Second World War and the end of the 1960s , Brussels still has more than 500 buildings of Art Nouveau style 2 .
Among the Brussels-style Art Nouveau creations, Victor Horta’s four buildings were listed in the World Heritage List in 2000 under the common name ” Major Homes of the Architect Victor Horta “: the Tassel , Solvay , van Eetvelde and Horta Houses ( current Horta Museum) 1 .
The Stoclet Palace , built between 1905 and 1911 by the Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann , one of the founders of the Viennese Secession , is also a World Heritage Site since 2009 3 .
Province
In addition to the provincial architects mentioned above, it is worth mentioning the buildings made in the provinces by the tenors of the Brussels Art Nouveau as well as some remarkable provincial buildings.
Achievements in the province of architects Art Nouveau Brussels
Victor Horta :
the Tournai Museum of Fine Arts
the Villa Carpentier in Ronse (Ronse)
Paul Hamesse :
the Villa Beau Site in Genval
Paul Saintenoy :
the Losseau House in Mons
Alphonse Groothaert :
business house, vegetable market n ° 1 in Arlon
Remarkable buildings in Wallonia
Province of Walloon Brabant
Genval station
Province of Hainaut
Charleroi :
the ” House of Doctors “, François Giuannotte rue Léon Bernus, 40, 1908
Lafleur House , François Giuannotte Boulevard Solvay, 7, 1908
Alfred Frère’s Maison dorée , with sgraffiti by Gabriel van Dievoet , rue Tumelaire, 15, 1899
the Maison Gaspar-Thibaut by the architect Oscar Van de Voorde, 1900
Mons
the Léon Losseau House, rue de Nimy, 37 in Mons (interior)
Tournai :
shop frontage avenue des Nerviens, 24
Place Victor Carbonnelle, 5, George De Porre, 1903
Van Cutsem Avenue, 27/29, Strauven, 1904
Deported Boulevard, 36, Strauven, 1907
other
the Palace , Festival Hall, rue de Brantignies, 4-6 at Ath , 1919
the House of the Pastoral People of Eugène Bodson, with a sgraffite of Paul Cauchie
Province of Liège
The art nouveau in Liège city has more than 200 achievements including:
Maison Piot , Maison Pieper , Maison Counet , Maison Jules Alexandre and Maison Lapaille by Victor Rogister
the Villa Dawn of Gustave Serrurier-Bovy in Cointe ( Liège )
the Comblen House by Paul Comblen
Maison Bénard , Dr. Janssens-Lycops’ House, Van der Schrick House , Maison Michel and Paul Jaspar’s Maison Jaspar
the Verlaine Hotel and the Dubois House of Maurice Devignée
the Bacot House , the Brasseur-Bodson House , the Thuillier Sequence , …
Rue du vieux Mayeur: a dozen art nouveau creations of which at n ° 38, 42/44: arch. Paul Jaspar and at n ° 51 to 55: a sequence of Joseph Nusbaum
the Charlier House of Gustave Charlier , rue du Marché, 26 in Spa
Villa Henrijean or White House by Paul Jaspar, avenue Prof.Henrijean in Spa
Artistic circle of Huy , rue de France, 19 in Huy : 2 big sgraffiti of Paul Cauchie
Sequence of 4 villas Maréchal , Roosevelt road, 34 to 40 in Amay : floral ceramics
the Bauwens House in Verviers
Rue du Palais, 141 to Verviers (Arch of Vivroux, 1904)
Peret House, Laboulle Avenue in Tilff
Province of Luxembourg
Vegetable Market, 1 (ground floor) in Arlon (Alphonse Groothaert Arch)
Rue Godefroid Kurth, 53 in Arlon
Pharmacy Goffaux, rue du Commerce, 32 in Marche-en-Famenne
Dupont Street, 42 in Marche-en-Famenne (P. Louwers)
Province of Namur
the Tourist Office of Andenne , Place des Tilleuls, 48 in Andenne
Villa Bagatelle , rue Tillieux, 54 in Jambes
the ” Maison aux deux vitrines “, avenue Materne, 82/84 in Jambes
the Marcel, Gaby and À l’oiseau bleu villas , rue de Dave, 92/94/96 in Jambes (A Ledoux arch)
Rue de la Gare Fleurie, 4, 6 and 10 in Jambes
Remarkable buildings in Flanders
Province of Antwerp
Art Nouveau in Antwerp is especially present in the Zurenborg district:
Huize Zonnebloem (House Sunflower), Cogels Osylei, 50, Jules Hofman , 1900
several houses Cogels Osylei
Ensemble Den Tijd , Waterloostraat, 55-63, sequence of A.Cols and A.Defever, 1903
House Of Slag van Waterloo (The Battle Of Waterloo), Waterloostraat, 11, F. Smet-Verhas
Lotus and Papyrus combined houses , Transvaalstraat, 52/54, Joseph Bascourt , 1901
People’s House Help U Zelve , Volksstraat, 40 in Antwerp, É. Van Averbeke and J. Van Asperen , 1901
House De Vijf Werelddelen (the 5 Continents), Schildersstraat, 2 at Antwerp, F. Smet-Verhas, 1901
House, Koningin Astridlaan, 102 in Mechelen
the Art Nouveau winter garden of the Ursuline Institute in Wavre-Saint-Catherine (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver, Sint-Katelijne-Waver)
Province of Flemish Brabant
Villa Lurman at Kortenberg, Emile Van Averbeke , 1903
Province of West Flanders
Villas Les Charmettes, Children, The Belvedere, Middelkerkelaan in Westende , Octave Van Rysselberghe , 1908
Several villas in Blankenberge
Lighthouse at Knokke-Heist , Grondel, 1907
Province of East Flanders
Workers’ City, Terneuzenlaan, 41-44 in Ghent, Geo Henderick, 1910
House-workshop, Terneuzenlaan, 46/48 in Ghent, Geo Henderick, 1910
Van Hoecke-Dessel House , Kunstlaan, 41 in Ghent, Achiel Van Haecke-Dessel, 1903
Villa Carpentier , Doorniksesteenweg, 9 to Ronse , Victor Horta, 1899-1903
Province of Limburg
former Rosmeulen chocolate factory in Nerem (Clément Pirnay arch, 1909)
Art Deco achievements of Belgian Art Nouveau architects
After the First World War , some Art Nouveau architects will of course turn to Art Deco .
Among other things, in chronological order of their Art Deco production:
Victor Horta :
1919-1928: Palace of Fine Arts of Brussels, rue Ravenstein (commissioned in 1919, works from 1922 to 1928)
Leon Sneyers :
1920: Churchill Avenue, 187
1923: Léon Sneyers personal house, Avenue de l’Echevinage n ° 21
Joseph Purnelle :
1920: Théodore Verhagen Street, 22
1930: rue des Fortifications, 9
1935: rue Royale, 93
Jean-Baptiste Dewin :
1922: avenue Molière, 269 (gate to the owls)
1926: Medico-Surgical Institute of the Red Cross (and Edith Cavell Nursing School), at the corner of G.Brugmann Square and J.Stallaert Street
1926: Memorial to Dr. Depage, by sculptor G.Devreese and JB Dewin (in front of the building above)
1927: Jubilee Boulevard, 86-88 and Hollevoet Street, 1 to 5
1927-1928: Rue Montjoie, 241
1926-1932: new Saint-Pierre Hospital in Brussels, rue Haute No. 322
1932: Maternity of the Hospital of Ixelles, rue Léon Cuissez, 30
1938: Town hall of Forest, rue du Curé
Camille Damman :
1922-1923: Palais de la Cambre, avenue Emile Duray , 62-68 and avenue de la Folle Chanson, 4
1925: Belliard Street, 197 (Art Deco building)
1925: parish parish of Our Lady of the Annunciation, rue Joseph Stallaert, 8-12
1930: Venezuelan Pavilion at the Universal Exhibitions of Antwerp and Liege
1933: Defacqz Street, 125-127
1934: Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation , Place Georges Brugmann
Edith Cavell Street, 10
Fernand Lefever :
1926: Seghers Avenue, 83
1927: avenue du Pantheon, 58 (decoration of horse chestnut leaves)
1928: Seghers Avenue, 90
1928: Seghers Avenue, 94
1931: Seghers Avenue, 85
Émile Van Averbeke
1931-1933: Swimming pool of the Veldstraat in Antwerp
Defenders of Art Nouveau in Brussels
The Brussels Art Nouveau has suffered greatly from the ravages of time and man, but it has been able to count on the action of several personalities and associations to ensure its safeguarding:
Jean Delhaye , collaborator of Victor Horta and great defender of his work, who contributed to the safeguarding of the former Waucquez stores by proceeding to the classification of certain elements in 1975 as well as the Hotel Tassel and the Hotel Deprez – Vandevelde ( neighbor of the Hotel Van Eetvelde ) by acquiring it;
Jos Vandenbreeden and the Saint-Luc Archives Brussels;
Françoise Dierkens-Aubry , curator of the Horta Museum ;
Michèle Goslar , writer, passionate about Art Nouveau, which published in 2012 a monumental biography of Victor Horta ;
Guy Dessicy , former collaborator of Hergé , who was at the base of the reallocation of the former Waucquez stores in the Belgian comic strip center and who also saved the Cauchie House from disappearing by buying it and restoring it with his wife Léo;
the association ARAU (Urban Research and Action Workshop) founded in 1969, organizer of many guided tours of Brussels aimed at promoting Art Nouveau and Art Deco Brussels;
the association GERPM-SC (Group of Studies and Research Murals Paintings – Cultural Sgraffites) founded in 1991 and engaged in the inventory, the protection and the restoration of the sgraffites of Brussels, under the impulse of Simone De Boeck , of his sister Monique Cordier , sgraffiti restorer, and their team;
François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters , cartoon authors, who initiated, supported and supported the restoration and opening to the public of the Autrique House .
Source From Wikipedia