Fireblog

Whilst I was in Prague over the New Year, I stoked the furnace of my cultural conscience by visiting a permanent exhibition of the Art Nouveau designer and artist, Alphonse Mucha. I was struck, upon close examination of his illustration style, how modern illustrators are really tapping into the natural influences of the Art Nouveau movement.Mucha’s background, as you may know, is not far from the world of commerce; he was a well known poster designer, particularly in the theatre scene in Paris around the turn of the 20th century. Almost everyday I see examples of art and illustration where the artist is turning to the ornate styling and structured chaos that nature inspires. From a dark and mysterious Underworld Evolution to the twisted visual ramblings of The White Stripes website, to the touchy-feely utopia of Earthplay, the meandering pencil technique seems like a common visual thread on the design high street of today. Bring it on I say, just make sure I have no meetings booked for the next three weeks if you want to choose the “ornate” route …

mucha, underworld evolution, white stripes, art nouveau, illustration

This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2006 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Design, Creativity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.