300 Art Nouveau Designs and Motifs in Full Color (Dover Pictorial Archive)

Art Nouveau is characterized by its love affair with lavish design: sheer sensuality of line and delicate interplay of color are the hallmarks of this popular style which dominated the art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. More than a century later, Art Nouveau still retains its unique appeal, claiming a remarkable resurgence in popularity. Here is a nearly limitless royalty-free sourcebook of authentic Art Nouveau design inspiration. Three hundred designs and motifs have been carefully selected for their ageless ornamental attractiveness from the Dekorative Vorbilder, an extremely rare early-20th-century stylebook, by noted artist and designer Carol Belanger Grafton. She has chosen 44 full-page plates, featuring virtually every decorative element including borders, panels, scrolls, cartouches, frames, head-and-tailpieces and dingbats. Each is reproduced in full color soft blues, muted olives, subtle lavenders, salmon pinks, and pearly grays. An extensive range of motifs are represented tangled ivy vines and voluptuous floral sprays of tulips and lilies; Piscean fish, parrots and peacocks; panels of geometric expression and window panes; and sultry women with flowing tresses. Amid the swirling splendor of Art Nouveau design offered in this handy, affordable volume there is a royalty-free illustration perfect for every design need.