Ornament is the essence of Art Nouveau. Throughout their two decades of dominance, Art Nouveau artists concentrated on the ornamental and decorative potential of the flowing line in painting, printing, wallpaper, and all other fine and applied arts. Hundreds of thousands of carefully wrought designs embellished books, bookplates, furniture, and appliances. A fashionable home was a garden of graphic florals, petals, leaves, and stems.
Today, Art Nouveau is again attracting artists, designers, and craftsmen of all kinds, while these countless ornamental flourishes have perished with their...