The Triumph of Nature: Art Nouveau from the Chrysler Museum of Art

Contemporary with America’s Gilded Age, Art Nouveau was an exuberant, radical style that blithely trampled many of the Victorian era’s traditions of art and design. Celebrating beauty and nature while exploring new technologies and incorporating international influences, Art Nouveau was a dynamic and expressive style in the visual arts from the early 1890s to the First World War.

Art Nouveau flourished during a period of rapid social and technological change in Europe and America. Taking inspiration from the vitality of nature, the pioneers of Art Nouveau created sensuous, decadent works of art dominated by sinuous, undulating lines, stylized organic forms, and bold asymmetric compositions. On the brink of a new century, these visionary artists and designers rejected slavish adherence to past styles, challenged social and cultural norms, and sought to create a vocabulary of design for the modern age.

Featuring the organic furniture of Louis Majorelle, the alluring posters of Alphonse Mucha, and the luminous works of Louis Comfort Tiffany, The Triumph of Nature: Art Nouveau from the Chrysler Museum of Art presents a dazzling selection of ceramics, furniture, glass, jewelry, paintings, posters, prints, sculpture, and textiles from one of the finest and largest US collections of Art Nouveau.

The Triumph of Nature: Art Nouveau from the Chrysler Museum of Art opens at the Lightner Museum on November 17, 2023, and runs through March 15, 2024.

The exhibition is organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC. The Lightner Museum is the first venue on this important exhibition tour.

About International Arts & Artists
International Arts & Artists in Washington, DC, is a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally, through exhibitions, programs and services to artists, arts institutions and the public. Visit artsandartists.org

About the Chrysler Museum of Art
The Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art museums, with a nationally recognized collection of more than 30,000 objects, including one of the greatest glass collections in America. The core of Chrysler’s collection comes from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., an avid art collector who donated thousands of objects from his private collection to the Museum. The Museum has growing collections in many areas and mounts an ambitious schedule of visiting exhibitions and educational programs each season. Visit chrysler.org 

Support for the Triumph of Nature: Art Nouveau from the Chrysler Museum of Art comes from the Crisp-Ellert Fund at the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, Bank of America, The Treasury on the Plaza, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, THE PLAYERS Championship, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.