Art Nouveau: The World's Most Beautiful Buildings from Guimard to Gaudi

The third volume of Arnold Schwartzman's photographic trilogy explores the world's most sensuous architecture of the 1890s and 1900s. The author has selected from his vast archive of photographs that he has captured during the past fifty years, to present a stunning collection of over 350 images from the South Pacific to the cusp of Asia, from South America to Europe, from Spain to Hungary and beyond of the architectural style known as Art Nouveau. Following the publications of Art Deco City and Arts & Crafts, Schwartzman turns back the clock to the fin de siecle, a romantic time when the Art Nouveau style burgeoned and flourished. This movement was known by several other names, among which were Jugendstil, Secession and Liberty. Its origins stem from the Arts and Crafts Movement (Schwartzman's second volume of this series) of Great Britain's William Morris. Rennie Mackintosh, and architects including Guimard and Lavoretti in Paris, Horta and van de Velde in Brussels, Wagner and Hoffmann in Vienna, Gaudi in Barcelona and Tiffany in New York, each contributing their own unique interpretation of the style. Remarkably many of their structures have survived the destructive havoc of two World Wars. The reader can turn page after page of this diversified collection of images extolling the globe's rich heritage from the Belle Epoque.