Started in the mid 19th century, Art nouveau is a movement that seeks to act as counteract to rise of the modernity due to the industrial revolution. This movement seeks to eradicate the rift between the high and the low art. Essentially, the simulacrum of the ‘Modern’ art, which exists as a monad with a mere surface without any depth has to be obliterated. In another word, the ‘Modern’ means of producing commodities and arts, which is through material reification has to be forgo; in its place is the imagined ‘direct representational’ methods, as shown by the heavy use of Nature in Art Nouveau scheme. The movement seeks to unify all forms of arts, centering it around man and his life; therefore many of the work produced takes the form of architectural objects or. The Paris Métro stood as the piéce de résistance of the Art Nouveau movement. Designed by Hector Guimard, the entrance to the Paris Metro stations came to represent the movement itself. Influenced strongly by its predecessor, that of Impressionism, Art Nouveau concentrates more on the ‘impression’ than that of the form. The entrance of the Paris Metro, if seen from a certain perspective seems to be mere supporting frames, topped with a glass roof. The ‘form’, vilified as the square gray blocks that are characteristic of the ‘modern’ industrial age is forgo as the Paris Metro’s design accentuate the ‘feeling’, the ‘impression’ that is given by the totality and the holistic outlook of the structure. The supporting pillars of the entrance are morphed into ‘flowing’ vines that characterized nature. Coming out of the vines are floral designs, an essential in art nouveau movement that emphasize both the reconnection to the Nature (which seeks to countercharge the ‘humanness’ of industrial age art scheme) and the feminine (which is in contradiction with the ‘macho’ and ‘manly’ industrial age designs). On the three sides of the entrance, floral design panes are installed in order to allow the ‘entrance’ to appear, as signified by the side with no pane. The design on the panes draws heavy influence from Japonism, the Eastern art movement. Under this school of thought, as with all Eastern philosophical ideas, man’s place in the art is reduced as relative to Nature (which explains very much why it is adapted here, since art nouveau is a movement going against humanism and industrialization). Artwork under this scheme is produced from a Nature’s perspective, rather than that of the human. The idea of ‘Perspective’, of ‘foreground and background’ pioneered during the Renaissance by Da Vinci is nowhere to be seen in these pieces. Rather, these panes are all ‘flat’, as if they are seen from the omniscience being from a perspective that can see ‘all’ at the same time.

如果找幅图贴上来对照着看就好了

you made yourself heard...Welcome! :DD

I am confused about what the discussions have been like. I just returned to New York City from Boston and am now too tired after the bus trip to read anything sophisticated. An early flight tomorrow and I will spend more time sorting it out after I return to LA.

all the best and meanwhile, looking forward to "seeing" you here!