Spent my birthday in Paris this year, which was beyond good. Great food, late Autumn sunshine and that gorgeous, handsome city to explore.
We were also lucky enough to catch an amazing exhibition at the stunning Musee d’Orsay: Art Nouveau Revival, worthy of a visit to Paris in itself. Combining the original Art Nouveau movement in terms of graphic design, architecture and furniture (including the classic, swirly Metropolitain sign) with 60s Psychedelic art, fashion and furniture it brings together two of my favourite ever art movements/conjunctions. This infusion of sheer colour and the sensuous, often explicitly sexual designs in everything from posters to chairs, tables and Verner Panton’s ‘fantasy furniture’ is so very welcome as we enter the greyest season of the year. The exhibition book (cover seen above) would be a worthy investment but I settled for a couple of bookmarks!
If the exhibition itself leaves you wanting more, head to the Art Nouveau and Symboliste sections of the museum. Symbolism is another of my favourite art movements. Much maligned for it’s tendency towards a certain romantic ‘fromage’ I actually find it very now. Two works stand out for me here, firstly Georges Rochegrosse’s Le Chevalier aux Fleurs. A simply stunning image of a knight in ultra shiny armour, in which is reflected a field of flowers, and a bevy of swooning, adoring sex nymphs is pure, contemporary fashion photography. I heart this painting! So much so that it’s become my current Twitter wallpaper. The cheesiness is exactly the point because the image is so shockingly beautiful.
Secondly, and equally defiantly ‘fromage-ist’ is Jean Delville’s ‘L’ecole du Platon’, where a Christ-like Plato is seen surrounded by a similarly-adoring, entourage of naked androgynes, draped over one another like a bunch of off-duty Bistrotheque drag artistes, all pouts and tousled curls.
Quite what this has to do with current fashion, I’m still determining. And does it have to have any? Beyond the omnipresent Arts & Crafts influence in Liberty prints, Art Nouveau has been little seen in recent years, aside from some amazing, Gaudi-esque sculpted women’s heels by Miuccia a few seasons back. To my mind, I’m envisaging the influence of pure, unadulterated surface beauty: in colour, print, line and fabric. A trailing silk scarf, a brooch worn on the lapel of a tweed blazer, a perfect colour in pure cashmere. All you need add to fully evoke this incredible aesthetic is a copy of Huysman’s A Rebours, half-hidden in (ideally) a velvet pocket.
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