Art Nouveau Decorative Ornament

At the turn of the twentieth century, a brilliant and energetic generation of artists and designers developed an art form appropriate to the modern age — Art Nouveau. Their new perspectives reanimated the arts, infusing traditional designs with flowing lines and dynamic, undulating vines and garlands. This treasury of rare Art Nouveau decorative ornaments offers an unusual selection of the genre's most strikingly imaginative graphics. Painstakingly reproduced from a hard-to-find German volume, Neuer Zierat Nach Altem Stil (''New Ornaments in the Old Style''), this collection features 157 crisp black-and-white illustrations. Its conventional motifs — cupids, urns, armor, wreaths, and fountains — are enlivened by Art Nouveau stylings that bring a fresh vitality to classic designs. Graphic artists and designers will appreciate the variety of formats, ranging from large full-page images to friezes and panels.