Art à la Rue
Encyclopedia
Art à la Rue was a group of left-wing artist
s and architect
s in the 1890s and early 1900s, mostly in Brussels
and Paris.
Many leading Art Nouveau
artists and architects, including Victor Horta
, Hector Guimard
and Frantz Jourdain (spokesman for the movement) were involved.
Art à la Rue focused on bringing art to the working class
es, and was part of a broader movement aimed at social reform. It had its roots in the French socialist movement, the political theories of Russian anarchist
Prince Kropotkin, and William Morris
’s later essays.
The group challenged what they felt was the elitist status of art, and urged artists to renounce the world of museum
s and collectors, and concentrate on relating art to everyday life in order to gain a more socially responsive role in society.
City streets where ordinary people spent most of their leisure time were main arenas for activity. Proponents urged that the streets be enlivened with bright colours — lithographic posters (e.g. those of Jules Chéret
and Théophile Steinlen
), and by artistically designed signs, lights and drinking fountains. The art was to be deliberately appealing, accessible and intelligible to people of all ages and educational backgrounds. Building façades and store fronts were singled out as especially good areas of transforming sombre streets into free outdoor museums.
With its aim of social reform and focus on public areas as a way of bringing art to the people, to lift morale and to elevate popular taste, the movement suggested that Art Nouveau
was not just an aesthetic ideal but it had a strong urbanistic, moral component, which helped set the stage for the modernists’ social utopianism
of the 1920s.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s and architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s in the 1890s and early 1900s, mostly in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
and Paris.
Many leading Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
artists and architects, including Victor Horta
Victor Horta
Victor, Baron Horta was a Belgian architect and designer. John Julius Norwich described him as "undoubtedly the key European Art Nouveau architect." Indeed, Horta is one of the most important names in Art Nouveau architecture; the construction of his Hôtel Tassel in Brussels in 1892-3 means that...
, Hector Guimard
Hector Guimard
Hector Guimard was an architect, who is now the best-known representative of the French Art Nouveau style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries....
and Frantz Jourdain (spokesman for the movement) were involved.
Art à la Rue focused on bringing art to the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
es, and was part of a broader movement aimed at social reform. It had its roots in the French socialist movement, the political theories of Russian anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
Prince Kropotkin, and William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
’s later essays.
The group challenged what they felt was the elitist status of art, and urged artists to renounce the world of museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s and collectors, and concentrate on relating art to everyday life in order to gain a more socially responsive role in society.
City streets where ordinary people spent most of their leisure time were main arenas for activity. Proponents urged that the streets be enlivened with bright colours — lithographic posters (e.g. those of Jules Chéret
Jules Chéret
Jules Chéret was a French painter and lithographer who became a master of Belle Époque poster art. He has been called the father of the modern poster. -Biography:...
and Théophile Steinlen
Théophile Steinlen
Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, frequently referred to as just Steinlen , was a Swiss-born French Art Nouveau painter and printmaker....
), and by artistically designed signs, lights and drinking fountains. The art was to be deliberately appealing, accessible and intelligible to people of all ages and educational backgrounds. Building façades and store fronts were singled out as especially good areas of transforming sombre streets into free outdoor museums.
With its aim of social reform and focus on public areas as a way of bringing art to the people, to lift morale and to elevate popular taste, the movement suggested that Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
was not just an aesthetic ideal but it had a strong urbanistic, moral component, which helped set the stage for the modernists’ social utopianism
Utopian socialism
Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, and Robert Owen which inspired Karl Marx and other early socialists and were looked on favorably...
of the 1920s.