Before Class 03/05/10

Like many art movements, there are numerous contributing factors that influenced the style. Historical, cultural and political forces all had an influence on the movement that began in Paris in 1890. Chinese art was a style all of it's own. Citizens of the East were banned from visiting other places. Because their land, people, and country was all they knew and could be exposed to, that is what they drew. The art was beautiful almost dreamlike pictures. Most commonly art was of beautiful women, flowers, birds, and nature scenes. Kitagawa Utamaro was a great artist of the late 1700's. There was great detail and "tenderness" in his artwork. Chinese art had a "kinetic energy." Katshuhika Hokusai created the most pieces of art; 35,000. Japanese books of art were meticulously planned out, arranged, and styled using "tecture, density, and dramatic action."
Finally at the turn of the century, Eastern influences began to pervade western art. Like most art forms this style reaches all avenues of design; architecture, typography, fashion, graphics, and print. It began in Paris and was called "New Art" because it was not influenced by anything else. The vines and lines were free. Graphics were invented and not just copied from nature. The was a whole movement of art because it was about finding new avenues for inspiration. The two artists that championed this movement the most was Cheret and Grasset. When French rules about censorship dropped, they began creating this art nouveau style. Posters filled the streets and galleries were stocked with new design. Cheret was the inventor of the modern day poster we see today. Posters were dominated by illustrations now, rather than large bulky letters and words. This was also a new style of women in advertising. Cheret portrayed them as the "ideal woman." They encompassed all that a woman now had. They had freedom, happiness, were self-assured, and living life to the fullest with wine and cigarettes. Grassat created posters and designed books more influenced by nature than advertising. In England, books were reprinted in the art nouveau style. Shortly art nouveau spread across the pond to the United States. Flat color was the style, and design was less busy.
I would be curious to know what type of censorship there was in France and why?