( 1874 – 1968 ), whose woodcut-like brush-and-ink drawings were said to
have influenced the German expressionists, and Eduard Thony ( 1866 – 1950 ),
who lampooned the Junker—or military aristocracy—with such beguiling
subtlety that even his victims admired the work. Issues such as political
corruption, religious hypocrisy, and militarist stupidity were assailed, while
the virtues of the Volk, or peasant class, were extolled in beautifully
proportioned, stylized vignettes, and caricatures.
Jugendstil was a component of a short-lived but exuberant pan-
European cultural episode that began in the late nineteenth century and
ended before the outbreak of World War I. It was similarly practiced in
Paris as art nouveau, in England as the arts and crafts movement, Scotland
as the Glasgow school, Italy as Liberty, Austria as the secession, and
Czechoslovakia as the Bohemian secession. Each nation imbued the style
with its own social and political characteristics, but there was also a shared
visual language rooted in a rejection of all things sentimental. Art nouveau
inveighed against parochial nationalistic movements while promoting the
international exchange of ideas. It refused to acknowledge any distinction
between the “fine and lesser arts” and was both decorative and expressive.
Art nouveau was influenced by the simplicity of traditional
Japanese design. Its practitioners swore allegiance to the natural object and
cultivated an appreciation of symbolism. Theirs was a lexicon of sinuous,
naturalistic, curvilinear forms. Jugendstil combined these organic impulses
with a geometric edge. Pervasive in Jugendstil design was what one critic
called “fantastical melancholy,” communicated through Teutonic wit and
folkloric symbology. Jugendstil took nourishment from William Morris’s
arts and crafts movement in England but did not reject all industrial
things, which it instead sought to cover with decorative motifs. Jugendstil
artists rejected traditional typography, choosing instead to render unique
ornamental typefaces that worked harmoniously with an image. Brushed
letterforms were used on posters and advertisements, while a few eccentric
faces, notably those by Otto Eckmann, became emblems of the era.
Exponents of Jugendstil believed in the ideal that good design
could change the world. While it had an impact, this was an unrealized
goal that came to an abrupt end prior to World War I. Today Jugendstil is a
stylistic reminder of rebellion against the status quo. The magazines Jugend
and Simplicissimuswere its clarions. Although it might seem tame in the
postmodern epoch, Jugendstil possessed a quality that transcended the
moment and continues to influence contemporary illustration and design.
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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