What IS Art Nouveau?

It was during the Belle Époque that the style of “New Art” emerged as a response to industrialization in the late 1800s. As objects were being manufactured for utility with little regard for craft or decoration, the movement sought to return grace and joie de vivre to all aspects of life, including architecture, furnishings, sculpture, and assorted visual arts. Art Nouveau was a wave of style that introduced elegance and flow to everyday objects, leaving behind in its wake a unique era of refined taste in both Western and Eastern worlds.

A number of painters, sculptors, architects, and furniture designers found their roles within this niche art style, including Aubrey Beardsley, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Victor Horta, Émile Gallé, Louis Majorelle, and the epitomizing Alphonse Mucha, whose poster art is the most recognized imagery in the movement.

Alphonse Mucha, "The Arts: Dance" [detail] 1898, color lithograph. © Mucha Trust 2022 — Alphonse Mucha, “The Arts: Dance” [detail] 1898, color lithograph. © Mucha Trust 2022

Key earmarks of the style include vegetal design in the form of vines, leaves, and flowers, pioneered by William Morris, a master of wallpaper, printing, and book design. Smooth, elegant forms, ‘whiplash’ lines, asymmetry, breezy, organic shapes, curvy women, and natural subjects including the delicacy of insects and animals, dominate imagery and content within the style. On a technical level, figures and hair are treated with bold, toony strokes and outlines, leaving faces and interior shading light, minimalist, and delicate. Detailed interior linework is also lighter, but leaves the hair and clothing curiously flat while giving faces a more volumetric treatment. Hair specifically receives a more graphical approach as well, contrasting vividly against the softer shading but complementing bold graphical background and midground elements. Sculptural elements exercise both symmetry and asymmetry, cleaving to bold shapes but elegant lines, highlighting natural forms and materials while remaining light, airy, and organic.

In celebration of the Art Nouveau style, BANQUET OCT seeks to apply these stylings to the HORROR genre, creating a unique ‘horror nouveau’. May our offerings please your palate for the elegant, nuanced, and deliciously refined gore and horror.

BANQUET OCT will officially be open for auditions on March 1st, 2026!

Join us! https://discord.gg/kSazUBqAXQ