Borders, Frames & Decorations of the Art Nouveau Period

Book excerpt: Art Nouveau swept turn-of-the-century Europe and America with its graceful, flowing lines and sensuous female figures. Today the style enjoys renewed popularity among artists and craftspeople drawn to its timeless beauty. A noted artist and designer has assembled a sparkling collection of elements culled from an 18-year run of Jugend, a German periodical which became a major Art Nouveau showcase. Here are more than 500 frames, borders, vignettes, head- and tail-pieces, and spot illustrations — all royalty-free — by Otto Eckmann, Hans Christiansen, Bernhard Pankok, and many other leading practitioners of the Art Nouveau style. You'll find elegant floral patterns and borders, horses, lions, peacocks, intertwined snakes, etc. Here men and women dance, smoke, drive automobiles, drink toasts to one another, and more. You will be delighted by graceful nudes, precious nymphs astride dolphins, voluptuous can-can girls high-kicking in a repeating border pattern, and much more. Elements are conveniently categorized according to dominant motif — people, plants, animals, abstracts/geometrics. Their myriad design uses — greeting cards, advertisements, menus, to name a few — make them invaluable to artists, illustrators, advertisers, and craftspeople in many disciplines.