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 Symbolism's lettering (Elongated ornamental serifs with vegetal terminals, tangled to just short of illegibility) 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 Symbolism (Deep muted purples and greens with gold and silver, smoky gradients dissolving contour).
- Colour
- Build on #e9ddbe, #829270, #6f3f35 and admit one accent from #c7ac85, #86828c, #2c2521.
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.
- Symbolism Piling up suggestion until nothing announces itself leaves an image of mood alone, so measure the distance between ornament and meaning and leave the viewer a way to the message.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Art Nouveau (style, 1890s–1910s) and their accent from Symbolism (style, 1886–1910). ## 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 Symbolism, used sparingly - Subjects of dream and myth - Contours that dissolve into vagueness - Ornamentalised plants and emblems - A deep, muted colour range Let one material quality come from it: Deep muted purples and greens with gold and silver, smoky gradients dissolving contour. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #e9ddbe, carry the structure in #829270 and #6f3f35, and let a single accent come from #86828c. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, intimacy. ## What goes wrong - Art Nouveau: Stock vine ornaments stay superficial. Carry the line through the whole composition. - Symbolism: Piling up suggestion until nothing announces itself leaves an image of mood alone, so measure the distance between ornament and meaning and leave the viewer a way to the message. ## 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.
- Symbolism 1886–1910 / Style / Fin de Siècle Art
An international movement that sought to visualise the inner life through forms and colours suggesting dream, myth and idea, rather than describing the outer world. Blurred contours, closed eyes, ornamentalised plants and emblems are placed as presences whose meaning is never spelled out. It created the vocabulary of fin-de-siècle posters and book decoration.
Share this composition:https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=art-nouveau+symbolism