I think I have what you're looking for perhaps in terms of a way to figure something out about this city - and funnily enough it has elements of your last project... so follow this logic for me:
Rene Lalique's work is situated in the Art Nouveau style. Art Nouveau (as an aesthetic) aligns with a period of time known as 'fin-de-siecle' - pronounced like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLGCmPLVirc
And this is what it means: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fin-de-siecle
You see, for some all the decoration and sensuality of Art Nouveau was seen as a time of decadence - a bit like when a piece of fruit becomes 'too ripe' or 'too sweet' - there's a sense of culture beginning to turn to rot, for morality to be on the slide, too much of everything!
If you were looking for way beyond just 'Lalique = glass flowers etc' - you might want to think about his city as a beautiful place that is too beautiful, too overblown, a playboy's paradise, but also a den of vice.
I don't know if you know the story of Dorian Gray - the Wilde novel about the guy who is fabulous beautiful but morally despicable, who's face always remains unblemished, while his portrait rots in the attic. There's an aspect of this to art nouveau - at least so say the critics of the style at the time.
Anyway have a poke around and see if anything sticks...
OGR 01/11/2017
ReplyDeleteHey Frankie,
I think I have what you're looking for perhaps in terms of a way to figure something out about this city - and funnily enough it has elements of your last project... so follow this logic for me:
Rene Lalique's work is situated in the Art Nouveau style.
Art Nouveau (as an aesthetic) aligns with a period of time known as 'fin-de-siecle' - pronounced like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLGCmPLVirc
And this is what it means:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fin-de-siecle
You see, for some all the decoration and sensuality of Art Nouveau was seen as a time of decadence - a bit like when a piece of fruit becomes 'too ripe' or 'too sweet' - there's a sense of culture beginning to turn to rot, for morality to be on the slide, too much of everything!
If you were looking for way beyond just 'Lalique = glass flowers etc' - you might want to think about his city as a beautiful place that is too beautiful, too overblown, a playboy's paradise, but also a den of vice.
I don't know if you know the story of Dorian Gray - the Wilde novel about the guy who is fabulous beautiful but morally despicable, who's face always remains unblemished, while his portrait rots in the attic. There's an aspect of this to art nouveau - at least so say the critics of the style at the time.
Anyway have a poke around and see if anything sticks...