Editing Art Nouveau (section)

===Development – Brussels (1893–1898)===
{{Main|Art Nouveau in Brussels}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:St-Gilles (Hankar) JPG01.jpg|[[Hankar House]] by [[Paul Hankar]] (1893)
File:Victor Horta Hotel Tassel.JPG|Façade of the [[Hôtel Tassel]] by [[Victor Horta]] (1892–93)
File:Tassel House stairway.JPG|Stairway of the Hôtel Tassel
File:Villa Bloemenwerf (front).JPG|[[Villa Bloemenwerf]] by [[Henry van de Velde]] (1895)
File:Henry van de Velde - Chair - 1895.jpg|Chair by Van de Velde for the Villa Bloemenwerf (1895)
File:International Exhibition Brussels par Privat-Livemont.jpg|Poster for the [[Brussels International Exposition (1897)|International Exposition]] by [[Privat Livemont]] (1897)
</gallery>

The first Art Nouveau town houses, the [[Hankar House]] by [[Paul Hankar]] (1893) and the [[Hôtel Tassel]] by [[Victor Horta]] (1892–1893),<ref name="britannica-horta" /><ref name="unesco-horta" /> were built almost simultaneously in [[Brussels]]. They were similar in their originality, but very different in their design and appearance.

Victor Horta was among the most influential architects of early Art Nouveau, and his Hôtel Tassel (1892–1893) in Brussels is one of the style's landmarks.<ref>Oudin, Bernard, ''Dictionnaiare des Architectes'' (1994), p. 237</ref><ref>Sembach, ''L'Art Nouveau'' p. 47</ref> Horta's architectural training was as an assistant to [[Alphonse Balat]], architect to [[Leopold II of Belgium|King Leopold II]], constructing the monumental iron and glass [[Royal Greenhouses of Laeken]].<ref name=":0">Culot and Pirlot, ''Bruxelles Art Nouveau'' (2005), pp. 74–75.</ref> He was a great admiror of [[Viollet-le-Duc]], with whose ideas he completely identified.<ref>{{Cite book|last=BEKAERT|first=GEERT|title=L'influence de Viollet-le-Duc sur l'architecture en Belgique et aux Pays-Bas vers 1900|publisher=Septentrion|date=1985|pages=38}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Horta |first=Victor |title=Discours de Victor Horta à l'Académie Royal de Belgique |date=1925}}</ref> In 1892–1893, he put this experience to a very different use. He designed the residence of a prominent Belgian chemist, Émile Tassel, on a very narrow and deep site. The central element of the house was the stairway, not enclosed by walls, but open, decorated with a curling wrought-iron railing, and placed beneath a high skylight. The floors were supported by slender iron columns like the trunks of trees. The mosaic floors and walls were decorated with delicate [[arabesque]]s in floral and vegetal forms, which became the most popular signature of the style.<ref>Sembach, ''L'Art Nouveau- L'Utopie de la Réconciliation'' (1991) pp. 46–47</ref>{{Sfn|Lahor|2007|p=127}} In a short period, Horta built three more town houses, all with open interiors, and all with skylights for maximum interior light: the [[Hôtel Solvay]], the [[Hôtel van Eetvelde]] (for [[Edmond van Eetvelde]]), and the [[Maison Horta|Maison & Atelier Horta]]. All four are now part of a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].

Paul Hankar was also an innovator of early Art Nouveau. Born at [[Frameries]], in [[Hainaut (province)|Hainaut]], the son of a master stone cutter, he had studied ornamental sculpture and decoration at the [[Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts|Royal Academy of Fine Arts]] in Brussels from 1873 to 1884, whilst working as an ornamental sculptor. From 1879 to 1894, he worked in the studio of the prominent architect [[Hendrik Beyaert|Henri Beyaert]], a master of [[eclectic architecture|eclectic]] and [[neoclassical architecture]]. Through Beyaert, Hankar also became an admirer of Viollet-le-Duc.{{sfn|Culot|Pirlot|2005|p=74}} In 1893, Hankar designed and built the Hankar House, his own residence in Brussels. With a goal to create a synthesis of fine arts and decorative arts, he brought together the sculptor René Janssens and the painter [[Albert Ciamberlani]] to decorate the interior and exterior with [[sgraffiti]], or murals. The façade and balconies featured iron decoration and curling lines in stylised floral patterns, which became an important feature of Art Nouveau. Based on this model, he built several houses for his artist friends. He also designed a series of innovative glass display windows for Brussels shops, restaurants and galleries, in what a local critic called "a veritable delirium of originality".{{sfn|Culot|Pirlot|2005|p=74–75}} He died in 1901, just as the movement was beginning to receive recognition.{{Sfn|Fahr-Becker|2015|p=143}}

[[Henry van de Velde]], born in [[Antwerp]], was another founding figure in the birth of Art Nouveau. Van de Velde's designs included the interior of his residence in Brussels, the [[Villa Bloemenwerf]] (1895).<ref>{{cite book |last=Sachar |first=Brian |date=1984 |title=An Atlas of European Architecture|publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold |page=[https://archive.org/details/atlasofeuropeana0000sach/page/27 27] |isbn=978-0-4422-8149-6 |url= https://archive.org/details/atlasofeuropeana0000sach/page/27}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Champigneulle |first=Bernard |date=1976 |title=Art Nouveau|publisher=Barron's Educational Series |pages=115, 121 |isbn=978-0-8120-5111-7}}</ref> The exterior of the house was inspired by the [[Red House, Bexleyheath|Red House]], the residence of writer and theorist [[William Morris]], the founder of the [[Arts and Crafts movement]]. Trained as a painter, Van de Velde turned to illustration, then to furniture design, and finally to architecture. For the Villa Bloemenwerf, he created the textiles, wallpaper, silverware, jewellery, and even clothing, that matched the style of the residence.<ref>Cite web [https://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=326&l=en&id=5356 Unesco website] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200528224848/http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=326&l=en&id=5356 |date=28 May 2020}}</ref> Van de Velde went to Paris, where he designed furniture and decoration for the German-French [[art dealer]] [[Siegfried Bing]], whose Paris gallery gave the style its name. He was also an early Art Nouveau theorist, demanding the use of dynamic, often opposing lines. Van de Velde wrote: "A line is a force like all the other elementary forces. Several lines put together but opposed have a presence as strong as several forces". In 1906, he departed Belgium for [[Weimar]] (Germany), where he founded the Grand-Ducal School of Arts and Crafts, where the teaching of historical styles was forbidden. He played an important role in the [[German Werkbund]], before returning to Belgium.<ref>Culot and Pirlot (2005), p. 20</ref>

The debut of Art Nouveau architecture in Brussels was accompanied by a wave of Decorative Art in the new style. Important artists included [[Gustave Strauven]], who used wrought iron to achieve baroque effects on Brussels façades; the furniture designer [[Gustave Serrurier-Bovy]], known for his highly original chairs and articulated metal furniture; and the jewellery designer [[Philippe Wolfers]], who made jewellery in the form of dragonflies, butterflies, swans and serpents.{{Sfn|Fahr-Becker|2015|p=152}}

The [[Brussels International Exposition (1897)|Brussels International Exposition]] held in 1897 brought international attention to the style; Horta, Hankar, Van de Velde, and Serrurier-Bovy, among others, took part in the design of the fair, and [[Henri Privat-Livemont]] created the poster for the exhibition.