Art Nouveau Tables
In its sinuous lines and flamboyant curves inspired by the natural world, antique Art Nouveau furniture reflects a desire for freedom from the stuffy social and artistic strictures of the Victorian era. The Art Nouveau movement developed in the decorative arts in France and Britain in the early 1880s and quickly became a dominant aesthetic style in Western Europe and the United States.
ORIGINS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the late 19th century
- Popularity of this modernizing style declined in the early 20th century
- Originated in France and Britain but variants materialized elsewhere
- Informed by Rococo, Pre-Raphaelite art, Japanese art (and Japonisme), Arts and Crafts; influenced modernism, Bauhaus
CHARACTERISTICS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN
- Sinuous, organic and flowing lines
- Forms that mimic flowers and plant life
- Decorative inlays and ornate carvings of natural-world motifs such as insects and animals
- Use of hardwoods such as oak, mahogany and rosewood
ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
ANTIQUE ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Art Nouveau — which spanned furniture, architecture, jewelry and graphic design — can be easily identified by its lush, flowing forms suggested by flowers and plants, as well as the lissome tendrils of sea life. Although Art Deco and Art Nouveau were both in the forefront of turn-of-the-20th-century design, they are very different styles — Art Deco is marked by bold, geometric shapes while Art Nouveau incorporates dreamlike, floral motifs. The latter’s signature motif is the "whiplash" curve — a deep, narrow, dynamic parabola that appears as an element in everything from chair arms to cabinetry and mirror frames.
The visual vocabulary of Art Nouveau was particularly influenced by the soft colors and abstract images of nature seen in Japanese art prints, which arrived in large numbers in the West after open trade was forced upon Japan in the 1860s. Impressionist artists were moved by the artistic tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking, and Japonisme — a term used to describe the appetite for Japanese art and culture in Europe at the time — greatly informed Art Nouveau.
The Art Nouveau style quickly reached a wide audience in Europe via advertising posters, book covers, illustrations and other work by such artists as Aubrey Beardsley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha. While all Art Nouveau designs share common formal elements, different countries and regions produced their own variants.
In Scotland, the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh developed a singular, restrained look based on scale rather than ornament; a style best known from his narrow chairs with exceedingly tall backs, designed for Glasgow tea rooms. Meanwhile in France, Hector Guimard — whose iconic 1896 entry arches for the Paris Metro are still in use — and Louis Majorelle produced chairs, desks, bed frames and cabinets with sweeping lines and rich veneers.
The Art Nouveau movement was known as Jugendstil ("Youth Style") in Germany, and in Austria the designers of the Vienna Secession group — notably Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich — produced a relatively austere iteration of the Art Nouveau style, which mixed curving and geometric elements.
Art Nouveau revitalized all of the applied arts. Ceramists such as Ernest Chaplet and Edmond Lachenal created new forms covered in novel and rediscovered glazes that produced thick, foam-like finishes. Bold vases, bowls and lighting designs in acid-etched and marquetry cameo glass by Émile Gallé and the Daum Freres appeared in France, while in New York the glass workshop-cum-laboratory of Louis Comfort Tiffany — the core of what eventually became a multimedia decorative-arts manufactory called Tiffany Studios — brought out buoyant pieces in opalescent favrile glass.
Jewelry design was revolutionized, as settings, for the first time, were emphasized as much as, or more than, gemstones. A favorite Art Nouveau jewelry motif was insects (think of Tiffany, in his famed Dragonflies glass lampshade).
Like a mayfly, Art Nouveau was short-lived. The sensuous, languorous style fell out of favor early in the 20th century, deemed perhaps too light and insubstantial for European tastes in the aftermath of World War I. But as the designs on 1stDibs demonstrate, Art Nouveau retains its power to fascinate and seduce.
There are ways to tastefully integrate a touch of Art Nouveau into even the most modern interior — browse an extraordinary collection of original antique Art Nouveau furniture on 1stDibs, which includes decorative objects, seating, tables, garden elements and more.
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Marble, Metal
Late 19th Century Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Iron
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Brass
Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Tables
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Tables
Wood
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Beech
Late 19th Century French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Wood
Early 20th Century Unknown Art Nouveau Tables
Marble, Wrought Iron
Late 19th Century French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Wood
Mid-20th Century Unknown Art Nouveau Tables
Wrought Iron
Late 20th Century Art Nouveau Tables
Wood
1910s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Tables
Wood, Bentwood
Mid-20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Tables
Chrome
Late 19th Century European Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Walnut
Early 20th Century Swedish Art Nouveau Tables
Copper
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Beech
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Wrought Iron
Early 1900s Swedish Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Mahogany
Early 1900s Portuguese Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Wood
1960s American Vintage Art Nouveau Tables
Marble
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Tables
Bentwood
20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Walnut
Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Tables
Iron
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Marble
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Marble
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Marble
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Marble
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Tables
Brass
1910s Swedish Vintage Art Nouveau Tables
Birch, Pine
Early 20th Century Belgian Art Nouveau Tables
Steel, Brass
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Vermeil
Late 20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Tables
Wood
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Beech
Mid-20th Century Unknown Art Nouveau Tables
Wrought Iron
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Brass
Late 19th Century French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Bronze, Pewter
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Metal, Brass
Early 1900s British Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Mahogany
Early 1900s German Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Walnut
1890s English Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Wood
1980s Dutch Vintage Art Nouveau Tables
Oak
Late 20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Tables
Brass
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Leather, Oak
Late 19th Century French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Marble, Iron
Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Tables
Mother-of-Pearl, Mahogany
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Beech, Bentwood
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Beech, Bentwood
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Tables
Wood, Pine
20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Fruitwood
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Beech
1910s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Tables
Brass
Early 1900s Dutch Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Macassar, Oak, Palmwood
20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Marble, Iron
1890s French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Marble, Iron
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary French Art Nouveau Tables
Stone, Marble, Brass
Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Tables
Fruitwood
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Tables
Iron, Zinc