The 19th Century Revolution in Decorative Arts The late 19th century brought a period of intense creativity in the decorative arts. The industrial revolution with its pollution, squalor and commercialism created a desire for communion with nature and its motifs. Darwin’s studies brought naturalism into society and the arts. Exposure to other cultural inspirations increased with travel, education and new rapid methods of communication. The influence of Japan as it opened to the west in 1858 refuted the established conventions of academic art and the popular international exhibitions spread the new aesthetic around the world. The Arts and Crafts movement, which began in the 1880s, thriving in Great Britain, continental Europe and America was an artistic protest against globalization and mass production. Beyond a style it bonded artists, architects and craftsmen valuing inspiration, ability and innovation and the lifestyle as well as the human spirit that nurtured their ideals. William Morris was a major figure in the movement calling it a battle against the age. Art Nouveau with its reference to Japonisme and graceful languid forms used nature as a model to harmonize with the environment. The movement came to the forefront in Paris and in 1895 Siegfried Bing opened his famous gallery, the Maison de l'Art Nouveau. Bing was the primary European dealer for Tiffany, Rookwood and Grueby and published an influential monthly magazine Le Japon Artistique. The Architect and designer Hector Guimard transformed Paris with the famous Metro subway entrances. Botanist and glassmaker Emille Galle founded of the School of Nancy, a group of decorative artists influential in French Art Nouveau. Symbolism had a close relationship with Art Nouveau decorative arts alluding to mystery and beauty with dreamlike imagery. Allegory, spirituality and mythology were expressed with images such as ethereal nymphs, sensual flowers, bats and dragonflies. The female form expressed a range from innocence, vulnerability, decadence, and temptation. Nature was not just a graceful form but also a pathway to another world, a world beyond the industrialism and unrest of the turn of the 20th century. In Austria, simultaneously to the Art Nouveau movement, Vienna was emerging as the center of a coming together of intellectuals, writers, artists and scientists. The beginning of a new world of travel, education and more rapid communication stimulated a modernist view of the human mind. A progressive group of artists, the Vienna Secession Group, founded a new art movement Jugendstil, rejecting the traditional limitations of the art establishment. Secessionist or Jugendstil decorative arts emphasized clean, pure lines and geometric lines. Secessionism’s modern style was a precursor to post World War Art Deco of the 1920s. These consecutive styles and movements flourished and were spread with a cultural cross pollination that was helped by a series of world expositions starting with London in 1851 and reaching a high point with Paris 1900 Exposition Universelle.
	Spiders and Webs Spiders and webs began appearing as a motif as Japanese influenced decorative arts became important in the second half of the 19th century. They reached a peak as a graceful motif in Art Nouveau ceramics and a geometric design in Arts and Crafts pottery and arts. Webs with their delicate symmetry and spiders with their aura of mystery and danger symbolized the beauty of the commonplace in the naturalistic arts of the period.
	Scarab Beetles The Scarab Beetles are probably the most exalted of all the insects. The ancient Egyptians saw the universe in miniature in the life cycle of this insect. Scarabs were venerated for three thousand years in Egypt as the symbol of rebirth and everlasting life. At the height of the ancient Egyptian civilization their cultural influence and beliefs spread throughout the Mediterranean and Near East. As a result Romans and early Christians revered the beetle. In Germany scarab worship in the form of the stag beetle as a symbol of immortality has been documented since the 16th century. German artist, Albrecht Durer, associated the stag beetle with Christ in various paintings, and produced a famous watercolor of the insect. In the 19th century the arrival of Egyptomania revived the popularity of the scarab beetle and during the Victorian era, when nature was the muse of many artisans in the Western world, the scarab became a widely admired icon again. Scarabs were used as ornamentation in Art Nouveau jewelry and porcelain and stylized versions were often seen in Art Deco design after the discovery of the tomb of King Tut in 1923.
	Symbolism Symbolism in Art Nouveau decorative arts alluded to mystery and beauty with dream like imagery. Allegory, spirituality and mythology were expressed with images such as ethereal nymphs, sensual flowers, bats and dragonflies representing innocence, vulnerability, decadence, and temptation.
	Art Nouveau and Nature Art Nouveau is French for new art, a late 19th century movement following The Aesthetic Movement, Arts and Crafts and the rejection of mass production and industrialization. Art Nouveau moved towards both modernizing and mythologizing the relationship of humanity and nature. Strongly influenced by the Japanese art that was introduced after trade was opened with Japan in the 1850's, Art Nouveau rejected allover patterns and historical revivalism from the past in favor of a romantic interpretation of the natural world. The use of nature in Art Nouveau decorative arts and architecture was prevalent along with flowing lines and motifs. Animals, plants, shells, fish and romanticized female figures were used in the decoration of Art Nouveau. Nature influenced the famous abstract curves present in Art Nouveau design. Art Nouveau flourished between 1895 and 1905. The Paris Great Exhibition of 1900 marked the movement's peak. Probably the most famous and renowned of the Art Nouveau potteries was the Austrian company Amphora. When originally incorporated as Riessner, Stellmacher and Kessel, Amphora worked in the Orientalist and Neo-Baroque styles of the time. But as the end of the 19th century approached the designers Eduard Stellmacher and Paul Dachsel brought Amphora to the pinnacle of Art Nouveau with three-dimensional lizards, birds and animals perched on organic shaped vases covered in iridescent glazes.
	Peacocks in Decorative Arts The peacock has been used as a symbol in many cultures throughout the world. Known as the bird with one hundred eyes from Greek and Roman mythology it was also sacred in China and India. To European early cultures the peacock symbolized immortality was often carved in medieval stonework. Revived in the 19th century as an Art Nouveau motif uniting Asian art and 19th century romanticism, the peacock is one of the most prevalent Art Nouveau patterns. Louis Comfort Tiffany's famous peacock feather glass and Whistler's Peacock Room painted with gilt peacocks 1876-77 epitomized its beauty.
	Amphora Alfred Stellmacher was founder of "The House of Amphora". His porcelain factory, founded in 1876 was highly acclaimed for artistic merit and an early patron was the German Emperor Wilhelm l. Stellmacher received the gold medal at the 1889 Paris World Exposition. Alfred Stellmacher's son Eduard along with the Riessner brothers and Rudolf Kessel started the Amphora Company. Alfred Stellmacher Company is one of the five companies considered part of The House of Amphora. Eduard Stellmacher and his brothers in law Hans and Karl Riessner and Rudolf Kessel founded RSTK Amphora in 1892. The company represented the pinnacle of Art Nouveau and won several gold medals. Dachsel's forms led the way to the Art Nouveau style of Amphora and he also pioneered the modernist styles he continued in hid own company. Eduard Stellmacher and Co, Paul Dachsel and Ernst Wahliss and Co. are considered under the same heading as Amphora. The firm was officially renamed Riessner & Kessel Amphora after Eduard Stellmacher resigned in 1904 to start his own company that closed in 1910. The firm was officially renamed Riessner & Kessel Amphora after Eduard Stellmacher resigned in 1904. Paul Dachsel left Amphora in 1903 to start his own short-lived company and also worked with Ernest Wahliss and Co.
	Japonisme One of the most important artistic influences of the 19th century was Japonisme. When international trade was established with Japan in 1854 the impact on the West was enormous. Japanese goods were represented in influential international expositions such as London in 1862, Paris in 1867, Vienna in 1873 and a huge exhibit of Japanese arts in Paris in 1883. The eastern aesthetic immediately influenced western decorative arts. The natural and freer flowing designs in Japanese arts were strongly in opposition to the ordered design patterns that had been prevalent in the 18th and early 19th century Western ceramics. The constraints of symmetry were abandoned in favor of the more spontaneous and seemingly random designs found in nature. The simplicity, tranquility and asymmetrical composition seen in Japanese prints were adopted by western ceramists and challenged traditional concepts. The Japanese stylized version of nature strongly influenced many of the styles that became popular, the Aesthetic Movement, Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts.
	Arts and Crafts Arts and crafts reflected a new simplicity of design that anticipated the modern secessionist styles that followed art nouveau. Clarity and purity of form was the new aesthetic. Craftsmanship was emphasized. Simplified natural images and stylized Japoniste motifs like irises and dragonflies were used often on monochromatic art pottery. Arts and Crafts led the way to the clean modern perspective of the later 20th century.
	Naturalism Naturalism in 19th century ceramics and decorative arts was a reaction against the idealization of Romanticism and classic revivalism. The excitement of Darwin’s natural world and the introduction of Japanese art to the West led the movement. Realistic objects are depicted in natural settings and humble objects are represented as they are rather than in an ideal form.
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Terra Mare Links	The House of Amphora by Richard Scott Definitive book on Amphora Inventing the Modern World Decorative Arts at the Worlds Fairs 1851-1939 Jason Jacques Publications From CLÉMENT MASSIER: MASTER OF IRIDESCENCE to EXOTICA the beautifully executed books from Jason Jacques define the era. Majolica International Society Society for all aspects of majolica for both collectors and dealers. Palissy Ware Review of book by leading expert on French and Portuguese Palissy ware.