Art Nouveau in Strasbourg


Art Nouveau in Strasbourg developed and was cultivated as a mixture of French influences, especially from the École de Nancy, and Germanic influences, particularly Darmstadt Artists' Colony and Vienna Secession, with some influences of Brussels Art Nouveau added. That synthesis reflected both the position of Strasbourg as a crossroads of European cultures, and the search for a specific identity of the locals, who had been incorporated into the German Empire some 30 years prior, after two centuries of French domination.

Architecture

Art Nouveau houses, department stores, and other public buildings such as a concert hall, and a church, were built in the years 1898–1910 in the Neustadt district, the Neudorf district, the historic city center, and in the Krutenau district. Most of these have survived World War II and the changes of taste, and many are classified as Monuments historiques. The most notable architects were the associates :Commons:Category:Lütke & Backes|Franz Lütke and Heinrich Backes ; :Commons:Category:Berninger & Krafft|Jules Berninger and Gustave Krafft ; Joseph Müller and ; David Falk and Émile Wolf ; Auguste Mossler and Auguste Müller, as well as the unaffiliated Fritz Beblo, Auguste Brion, Samuel Landshut,, and Aloys Walter.
The following Art Nouveau buildings have been classified as Monuments historiques:
The artists Charles Spindler, Jean-Désiré Ringel d'Illzach, Joseph Sattler,,, Joseph Ehrismann,, were all active in and around Strasbourg in the Art Nouveau period, and shaped many of its local traits. These artists, as well several others who were not drawn to Art Nouveau/Jugendstil, were members of the Cercle de Saint-Léonard, a francophile circle of painters, playwrights, sculptors, and designers, established in 1897 and strongly attached to redefining and reinventing Alsatian regionalist art. François-Rupert Carabin, born in Saverne and buried in Strasbourg, did not spend the Art Nouveau years in Alsace-Lorraine; nevertheless, due to his having become the director of the École des arts décoratifs de Strasbourg after World War I, the Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art owns a large and representative collection of his works in all domains.

Gallery