Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Art Nouveau: Vertical formats, frame compositions, a central figure
- Type
- Set in Art Nouveau's manner (Curvilinear serifs or hand lettering), and let Cloisonnism's lettering (Set lettering outside the cells in black at the keyline weight, hand drawn or slab) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Art Nouveau's material (Dusty greens and gold, line work, paper texture); bring in exactly one thing from Cloisonnism (Flat unmodulated colour from memory inside dark contours, with no shadow or gradient).
- Colour
- Build on #e9ddbe, #829270, #6f3f35 and admit one accent from #d7d4bf, #bd3c10, #151215.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Art Nouveau Stock vine ornaments stay superficial. Carry the line through the whole composition.
- Cloisonnism Adding heavy outlines afterwards produces no division of colour, only an ordinary picture inside lines. Letting shading or depth back into the cells breaks the enamel like flatness.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Art Nouveau (style, 1890s–1910s) and their accent from Cloisonnism (style, 1888–1895). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Art Nouveau exists for: speaking of craft and handwork, or leading with beauty and narrative. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Art Nouveau - Botanical curves - Ornamental frames - Female figures - Muted natural colors Composition: Vertical formats, frame compositions, a central figure. Type and lettering: Curvilinear serifs or hand lettering. ## Accent comes from Cloisonnism, used sparingly - Thick, dark contour lines - Flat colour fields without shading - Decoratively simplified shapes - Colouring drawn from memory Let one material quality come from it: Flat unmodulated colour from memory inside dark contours, with no shadow or gradient. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #e9ddbe, carry the structure in #829270 and #6f3f35, and let a single accent come from #bd3c10. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, intimacy, calm. ## What goes wrong - Art Nouveau: Stock vine ornaments stay superficial. Carry the line through the whole composition. - Cloisonnism: Adding heavy outlines afterwards produces no division of colour, only an ordinary picture inside lines. Letting shading or depth back into the cells breaks the enamel like flatness. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Art Nouveau 1890s–1910s / Style / Historical Styles
Joins letters, figures and ornament into one flowing, plant-like line.
- Cloisonnism 1888–1895 / Style / Fin de Siècle Art
A manner of painting named after the partitions of cloisonné enamel: flat fields of colour enclosed by heavy contour lines. It brought the way of seeing of ukiyo-e prints and stained glass into oil painting, abandoning shaded volume in favour of colour laid down from memory. The technique that prepared the flatness of the poster.
Share this composition:https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=art-nouveau+cloisonnism