What is Design Thinking?

Historical Design Style:

Art Nouveau

Mucha , Jobs cigarette poster Sullivan, Owatonna Bank

Henry van de Velde, Gowns Mucha , Jobs cigarette poster

Kelmscott Morris, colophon

Rossetti, “La Ghirlandata” colophon Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Rossetti, “La Ghirlandata” Mucha , Job cigarette poster Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

William Blake, “Paradise Lost: Temptation” 1808

Mucha , Jobs cigarette poster, 1898

Hokusai, “Great Wave” from 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, 1823-31

Japanese silk embroideries, 18th and 19th century

Van Gogh,"Japonaiserie: The Bridge in the Rain,"1887

Hiroshigi, "Squall at Ohashi," 1858

Van Gogh, "Starry Night,"1889

Gauguin, "The Day of the God," 1894

Jules Cheret, “Bal Au Moulin Rouge,” 1898 “Savon Cosmydor,” 1891

Grasset, "Jeanne d'Arc," 1893 "Encre L. Marquet," 1892

Grasset, "Jeanne d'Arc," 1893

Mucha,"Gismonda," 1894

Sarah Bernhardt Mucha,"Gismonda," 1894

Mucha, two advertisements for Job cigarette papers

Alphonse Mucha

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Bruant Aux Ambassadeurs, 1892

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1890s

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “At the Moulin Rouge,” 1892-95

Aubrey Beardsley "Salome" by Oscar Wilde, 1895, title page illustration The Peacock Skirt

Aubrey Beardsley “Salome and the Head of John the Baptist “ “ The Peacock Skirt”

Aubrey Beardsley, two book cover designs “Le Mote d’Arthur” "Salome”

Bradley, cover for The Chapbook magazine

Bradley, cover for The Chapbook magazine

Bradley, The Chapbook magazine

Henry van de Velde, title page “Ecce Homo” by Nietzsche, 1908

GE logo, c. 1890

Coca Cola logo, c. 1900

Gibson, Gibson Girl illustration

Gibson, wallpaper: for a bachelor's apartment. c.1903

Charles Voysey ,”Teasels” and “Water snakes” wallpaper, 1896-98

Macmurdo, “Wren’s City Churches,” title page

Macmurdo, chair, 1881 (seaweed and protozoa design)

Hermann Obrist, “Cyclamen”

Tiffany studios, Wisteria Lamp Monet painting

Tiffany studios, Wisteria lamp and Peony Lamp

Rookwood Pottery Company, Ovoid vase with Peacock Feathers

George Ohr

Ohr, Vases

Ohr, "Pitcher with Snake" and "Vase"

"Set of Brothel Tokens"

Konrad Hentschel, Cup and Saucer With Jugendstil Décor

Henry Van de Velde, Candelabra, 1898-99

Behrens, Fish Slice and Serving Fork Prince Bogdar Karagerovevitch, Silver Guilt Spoons, c. 1900

Henry Van de Velde, Belt Buckle, silver and amethyst, 1898

Feuillatre, "Brooch;" Lalique, "Butterfly Necklace," c. 1890s

Lalique, Dragon Fly corsage ornament

Vallin, "Sideboard," 1903-06, and photo of dining room

Surrurier-Bovy, "Buffet," c.1900

Stop & Draw

Surrurier-Bovy, "Buffet," c.1900

Stop & Draw

Guimard, "Cabinet," c. 1899

Guimard, Paris Metro entrances, 1899-1904

Hector Guimard, Castel Beranger entrance gate, 1894-1898

Guimard, Castel Orgeval 1904-05

(exterior front entrance)

Castel Orgeval (exterior rear)

Victor Horta

Belgium Art Nouveau architect and designer (1861-1947)

The Belgian architect Victor Horta was the initiator and leading exponent of Art Nouveau in Belgium. In Brussels Victor Horta built a great many private houses as well as public buildings, which are among the most important examples of Art Nouveau. Born the son of a shoemaker in Ghent in 1861, Victor Horta began studying architecture at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Ghent; from 1874 until 1877 he attended the Royal Athenaeum there. In 1878 Victor Horta went to Paris, where he worked until 1880 in the studio of the interior decorator Jules Debuyson. Victor Horta would later write in his memoirs: "My stay in Paris, the walks I took, the monuments and museums I visited, awakened my artistic sensitivity. No academic education could have inspired me so strongly and lastingly as "reading" monuments.” In 1881 Victor Horta moved to Brussels and finished his studies there at the Académie des Beaux-Arts. From 1881 Victor Horta also worked in the practice of the Neo-Classical architect Alphonse Balat. Victor Horta was particularly inspired by the French architect and theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. On the one hand, Viollet-le-Duc clamored for protecting and restoring medieval buildings; on the other he was a passionate advocate of the new engineering in architecture and was committed to the use of the new building materials, particularly cast iron, and modern building techniques. In "Entretiens sur l'architecture" (published 1863 and 1872) Viollet-le-Duc drew a comparison between the Gothic skeletal method of construction and 19th-century cast-iron construction, emphasizing the close relationship between them.

From 1892 Victor Horta designed several houses and public buildings (short video) in Brussels, for which he used cast iron for structural and decorative reasons. In 1892-93 Hôtel Tassel was built, with an interior featuring exposed cast-iron construction and glass elements. Further, it was notable for the richness of its decoration, shaped by organic forms and soft lines. Victor Horta conceived his buildings as total works of art in the Art nouveau style. Between 1896 and1899 Victor Horta designed Maison du Peuple, the headquarters of the Belgian Socialist party, with a façade entirely constructed of cast-iron and glass - the first of its kind in Brussels. Horta was a leading Belgium Art Nouveau architect until Art Nouveau lost public favor. At this time he easily assumed the role of a neoclassical designer. Although many of Horta's buildings have been needlessly destroyed, his former assistant Jean Delhaye has worked to preserve what remains of his work. Delhaye has also secured the Horta residence as a permanent museum. Horta died in Brussels in 1947.

Victor Horta, Hotel Tassel, 1893 Stair hall before bad remodeling in 1958

Victor Horta, Hotel Tassel, 1893 Stair hall before bad remodeling in 1958

Victor Horta, Solvay House, 1894-1903 Brussels, Belgium Now, like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Take a tour of the interior of this exquisite Art Nouveau extravaganza! Imagine yourself living here. What would you wear? How would you behave if this were your home?

Solvay House number

Solvay House Grand Staircase, first floor landing. At right, the dining room. At left, the drawing room. Ahead, the light well.

Mirror at the foot of the Grand Staircase, On the ground floor. With the main living quarters on the second floor, all guests would use this staircase to reach the dining or sitting rooms. Imagine watching yourself descend the stairs on your way to the front door.

The straight line and curve at the base of the grand staircase, ground floor. Note painting at top left.

Beginning of the handrail viewed from above. Grand hall on the ground floor. Imagine the feel of the smooth curvilinear wood as you walk down the stairs. Not the floor below.

"Reading in the Park" 1902. Painting by Theo van Rysselberghe, on the wall of the first mezzanine of the grand staircase.

Solvay House Stairwell seen from the second floor landing. Note the ceiling.

Mosaic ceiling, second floor landing Note this curvilinear design above.

See the curvilinear floor design in next slide.

Floor in green Italian, sienna yellow (brocatelle), and Numidia rose-yellow marble. Second floor landing.

Solvay House, painted walls

interior view, the hall, banisters along with the roof covered in stained and leaded glass window pane

North light well photographed from the stairway leading to the third floor. Light wells are important for bringing sunlight to the interior of a large building.

Drawing rooms seen from the music room. Second floor. Note the curvilinear design on the ceiling, floor, the furniture, the wood work, the chandelier, .

Chandelier in the central second floor drawing room, photographed in front of black cloth to show the design.

Solvay House, dining room on second floor. Horta designed all the furniture.

Note the painting through the folding glass doors. Note the painted ceiling, the rug, the chandelier .

Dining room chandelier, and detail

Sculpture-radiator cover in the music room. Gilded bronze on a base of Numidian yellow marble.

Metal door handles in the Solvay House, three of the designs. The handle on the right includes Mr. Solvay’s monogram, “A S”

Hand carved wood paneling in the Solvay House. Think of the craftsmanship and labor in this entire house!

Solvay House (diagram)

Victor Horta’s own home in Brussels, Belgium, built in 1902.

Antoni Gaudi Spanish Art Nouveau architect

(1852-1926)

Antoni Gaudi, Finca Guell, Dragon Gate, 1885

Architect Antoni Gaudí was born in Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain on June 25, 1852. His father and both his grandparents were boilermakers, and, as Gaudí himself recounted, he learned his special skill in dealing with three-dimensional space by observing boilermakers at work. Another key fact in the architect's childhood was his delicate health which forced him to spend long periods convalescing at home in Riudoms. There he spent many hours contemplating nature, drawing lessons that he was to apply later in his architecture. He showed an early interest in architecture, and went to study in Barcelona—Spain's most modern city at the time—circa 1870. In 1878, after his studies were interrupted by military service, Gaudí graduated from the Provincial School of Architecture in Barcelona, the city that would become home to most of his great works. Gaudí's rise to be one of the most outstanding architects of the first Modernista generation was meteoric. was part of the Catalan Modernista movement, eventually transcending it with his nature-based organic style. In the final decades of the nineteenth century when he completed the Güell Palace and Park Guell he was already one of the most famous architects in Barcelona. In 1914 he abandoned all other work to concentrate on the Sagrada Familia. Aware that he would not live to see it completed, he did his best to leave it at an advanced stage for coming generations. In fact, Gaudí was only to see one of its towers in its final form. On 10 June 1926 the architect died from injuries suffered after being run over by a tram. Two days later he was buried at the Sagrada Familia (click link to see very short video) after a massive funeral in which most of Barcelona took to the streets to pay homage to the most brilliant and universal architect that the city had ever seen.

Sagrada Familia, Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, Barcelona, Spain. View of the Passion Façade (Western side) in September 2009

Original construction began in 1882. Antoni Gaudi became main architect in 1883 and worked on until his death in 1926. Worked has continued and reached the midway point in 2010!

The anticipated completion date is 2026.

View (perspective) of the completed church by Francisco Valls.

Antoni Gaudi combined Gothic forms with Art Nouveau style in the design of Sagrada Familia.

Chartres, Cathedral of Notre Dame France 1134-1220, Gothic Architecture

Sagrada Familia Spain,1882-present, Art Nouveau +

Gothic design

Facade of Nativity Transept (Apostle Bell Tower)

Seen from the Northwest through pinnacles of wall of North apse.

Facade of Nativity Transept (Apostle Bell Tower) R: One of the glass and ceramic mosaic spires crowned with a boss in the form of a bishop's mitre. L: Floral-star form finial of a canopy over an apostle statue.

Facade of Passion Transept (Apostle Bell Tower) detail of glass & ceramic mosaic decoration of one of the spires (work restarted in 1956).

Sagrada Familia is covered with sculptures. Consider the craftsmanship and time involved.

Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia, covered in intricately carved sculpture telling religious stories from the Catholic Chursch.

Facade of Nativity Transept (portal of hope). Gable: Betrothal of the Virgin and St. Joseph.

Facade of Nativity Transept (portal of hope). The Massacre of the Innocents.

Facade of Nativity Transept (portal of charity). The Gable: The Coronation of the Virgin.

Facade of Passion Transept, Calvary group over the central portal (1991 photo).

Facade of Nativity Transept (Apostle Bell Tower) L: Looking down the spiral staircase in one of the towers. R: Looking up, room was left in middle of spiral staircase for a cylindrically shaped bell.

Sculptural studies, head sculpture Lorenzon Matamala photographed in analytic method devised by Gaudi in the preparation of casts.

Sculptural studies, life casts of models for nativity façade, the casts of babies were made by Lorenzo Matamala from still born infants at Santa Cruz Hospital.

Sculptural studies, anatomical studies using skeletons obtained by Lorenzo Matamala.

Construction, the state of the nativity façade at Gaudi's death in 1926 with only the Barnabas Bell Tower completely terminated.

Interior view of the Nativity Transept showing unfinished state in photo taken years after Gaudi’s death.

Facade of Passion Transept general view the west front constructed after the death of Gaudi. (1991 photo) Note cranes, construction is ongoing.

Shell model, Gaudi said that "the form of the church's towers, vertical and parabolic is a union between gravity and light."

If you are interested to see another Gaudi building: Antoni Gaudi’s Casa Battlo

The End Art Nouveau

Peter Behrens, “The Kiss,” color woodcut, 1898