Santiago Rusiñol – iDesignWiki

Early-Modern or Modernism includes many artistic movements, each country in Europe had its way of creating innovative designs.

early modern human from Qafzeh Israel, cast from the American Museum of Natural History

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/58d16f6a-42a6-4b83-9782-4ff51c7331af by Wapondaponda

Early-Modern/Modernism Architecture-Characteristics

In architecture and design, glass and wrought iron were used, in jewelry semiprecious stones and opals were employed. This style can be distinguished by the following features:

Curving Lines;
Use of symbols;
Aesthetic sophistication;
Attention to details;
Decorative elegance.

Example of Ring coming from the Early-Modern period.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/1c356217-1c36-4045-86b9-4e69807c8b8d by Birmingham Museums Trust, Peter Reavill, 2006-01-18 14:28:43

Early-Modern/Modernism Architecture-Examples

Hotel Tassel was projected by Victor Horta in Brussels. He opened the center in a sort of conservation space in which the exposed cast-iron supports became stylized plants.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/a36ce38d-f731-4181-81a5-7d1348efc491 by RightIndex

The Secession Exhibition Building in Vienna, Austria, was designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich. It was conceived as an exhibition space and the interior is quite flexible. The plan and the forms are all about pure geometry. The ornament features flat stylized organic forms. The inscription over the entrance points out the strive to form a representative artistic language.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/31643d3b-5f46-45be-b500-24c494ac407c by avinashbhat

Among the most visited edifices in the world, the Sagrada Familia was from the beginning thought as a monumental project, famous mainly for the height of its spiers and by the extravagance of its design. Designed by Gaudí, the Sagrada Familia is an icon of the spirit of one of the most innovative cities in the world. Gaudí was inspired by nature, by his elements.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/eb9ac0e5-9802-467f-81c4-3cbb70450c3d by larrywkoester

The Großes Schauspielhaus, is the great theater of Berlin, designed by Hans Poelzing. He was a German architect, painter, and set designer. He looked for a solution to the problems of modularity, and space-related concerns. He used new materials to create a solid bond utility beauty in industrial buildings.

Inside of the Great Theatre, Berlin (1922) by Poelzing. Light columns in the entrance hall

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fes_Schauspielhaus#/media/File:Berlin_Grosses_Schauspielhaus_Poelzig_Foyer.jpg

Early-Modern Furniture

Early-Modern furniture features curvy lines to link images in art and can even be found in beautified plain items, such as dishes, eating utensils, hardware, and furniture.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/e080e490-66bd-453c-924f-d8718d0d0358 by brownpau

In interior design, Carlo Bugatti (1855-1940) was the most important artist of the movement. He was born in Milan and was a creative designer. His expensive pieces of furniture were made out of precious wood and deer leather. Bugatti’s works took to the end the transition from 800’s furnishings culture to a new modern concept.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/bd7c6d97-6cad-49d5-8104-d63ce884d4d6 by lartnouveauenfrance

by Carlo Bugatti (Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin)

Images source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/28735093-d208-4ad0-97e0-e4cffaf0f988 by dalbera

The fight for beauty, utility, and comfort, and a bit of exhibitionistic luxury are essentials of Modernism, as it is possible to see in the interiors of bourgeois housing. Along with architects, carpenter-decorators became important figures, having commissions from the bourgeois obsessed with the furniture design and ornament of the houses, that reflected tastes of the time and the new way of conceiving art.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/5bf8a929-79f5-409f-b796-e1104359f55c by Jordi Domènech i Arnau

Early-Modern Artists

Gustav Klimt is famous for his decorative art or, at least, his decorative way of painting respecting the manner of Byzantine Art that used gold and semi-precious rocks for ornamentation. It is characterized by a flat style, often made rich with biomorphic forms, as exemplified by his masterpiece “The Kiss”.

Image sources: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/d042af76-a7cd-4489-a251-10551c9890e2 by Tulip Hysteria / Go to albums

Santiago Rusiñol was a Spanish writer and painter. He was one of the leaders of the Catalan modernist movement. He had an influence over Pablo Picasso and his art and also designed some modernist structures in Sitges, a little city in Catalonia. He was known also for his plays, and landscape and garden paintings.

Terraced Garden in Mallorca , 1911 – Santiago Rusinol i Prats

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/02612386-92b1-493e-9420-4de86cad3ba3 by irinaraquel

Matisse was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the most representative artists of Fauvism. He is the author of paintings known as “The Dance”, “Woman with hat”, “The Red Room”.

The dance by Matisse (1910), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/6193bdf6-924a-4266-a801-aa9059c885e2 by archer10 (Dennis)

Kandinskij is one of the best-known Russian painters, he founded “Der Blaue Reiter” (The Blue Rider). He is the author of many historical masterpieces such as “Picture with Archer”, “First abstract watercolor”, “Accent in pink” and many others.