Art Nouveau, a survey exhibit
at the Vancouver Museum,
1100 Chestnut St., Vancouver,
organized by the Goethe-
Institut Munich, co-presented
by the Vancouver Museum and
the Goethe-Institut Vancouver,
to Sept. 26.

Y NOW it is a com-
monly accepted fact
& that art nouveau was
the first modern art move-
ment of international stature
to break with the nictorial
historicism of the past.

it was also, inadvertently to be
sure, the first to impress its sensi-
bility on the endeavors of com-
merce and industry.

Though its attributes were as
diverse as the national traits of the
countries in which it originated, its
superficial veneer always reflected
the fin de siecle zeitgeist that gave
it rise.

In England it emerged from the
revival of the medieval tradition of
craftsmanship initiated by William
Morris and the Arts and Crafts
Movement; in France it was
engendered by the revival of
recoco under the seductive influ-
ence of the mannered art of the
orient, particularly that of Japan.

in Austria it was known as
Secessionsstil and quickly
prompted the establishment of the
Vienna arts and crafts movement,
the wiener werkstatte.

In Germany the esthetic sensibil-
ity was encompassed by the term
jugendstil, which was derived from
Otto Eckmann’s Munich journal,
Jugend (youth), to which youthful
artists seeking new directions were
irresistibly drawn.

In an effort to document the
brief, if intense, manifestation of
this essentially Romantic phenom-
enon of decorative art, the Van-
couver Museum, in conjunction
with the Goethe-Institut Van-
couver, has mounted a somewhat
uneven exhibition based on that
originally organized by the

’ Goethe-institut in Munich. ;

Divided into such categories as

odern

ART REVIEW

“floral,” “linear,” and
“geometric,” and utilizing local
artifacts are a labyrinth of panels
among which viewers are invited
to meander at random.

Bearing mostly black and white
photo-enlargements of master
works and sporting quotes by
Henry van de Velde, Otto
Wagner, Alphonse Mucha and
other advocates of the style, the
environment imposes on the
observer a sensation curiously akin
to being shuffled among the pages
of a book.

Unfortunately, due to unfore-
seen financial reversals, the ar-
tifacts originally meant to accom-
pany this exhibit did not arrive
from Munich.

Though most of those presented
are, on the whole, rather com-
monplace examples of their kind,
some pieces are unusual and wor-
thy of attention such as the highly
ornate rnanuscript page of William
Morris’ 1892 Kelmscott Press edi-
tion of The Golden Legend, with
illustrations by Walter Crane and
Aubrey Beardsley.

An exquisite mock-Mucha
watercolor by the Montreal artist
L.M. Kilpin is a pleasure to behold,
as is English painter John Byam
Shaw’s Treroic depiction of the un-
sullied Parsifal.

Two gilt-metal statuettes confirm
the period’s infatuation with sin-
ewy female form, one bearing up
an ornate clockface, as if it were
the crown of a flower, the other —
the inscription “‘Perversite’”’ gayly
disclosed on its pedestal — coyly
modelling a seductive gown,

All things considered, this is a
rather modest exhibit that will

serve to initiate the unenlightened

WO

; *,

AUBREY BEARDSLEY became
well known through his work
for The Studio periodical.

to the milieu out of which art
nouveau was born, but will disap-
point those with more than a pas-
sing knowledge of the period’s art.

As might be expected, the Ger-
man and Austrian variants of the
style are given precedence, while
the achievement of the visionary
Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi,
for example, is virtually ignored.

For the most part, the artifacts
displayed are rather pedestrian
examples which do more to ex-
plain the movement's decline than
to reflect its greatness, for art
nouveau was essentially an elitist
enterprise whose dissemination in-
to the popular domain ultimately
compromised its uniquely fastidi-
ous spirit and presaged its demise.

A comprehensive exhibit
seriously attempting to capture the
fin de siecle sensibility that per-
vaded all art at the turn of the last
century is certainly to be applaud-
ed in Vancouver.

Unfortunately, and with no
disrespect intended for the Van-
couver Museum and the Goethe-
Institut which apparently en-
countered insurmountable set-
backs in their endeavor, the cur-
rent show at the Planetarium is
clearly not that exhibit, though it is
worth seeing.

eau de source naturelle
natural spring water

source of natural foods
source des aliments naturels

Every year, British Columbians are injured and
killed by drinking drivers who had said to them-
selves: ‘I can handle more than most people’, or
‘I’ve only had a couple’. That's no excuse!

DRINKING DRIVING
COUNTERATIACK