Beaux-Arts

ボザール様式 / 1830s–1920s / Style / Historical Styles

The academic synthesis of the classical taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Grand axes, sculptural ornament and a hierarchy of formality were laid over the new technologies of iron and glass, giving the modern city its public face in stations, museums and banks.

Beaux-Arts — Grand staircase of the Palais Garnier (CC0) — Grand staircase of the Palais Garnier (CC0) · CC0

Beaux-Arts — Garnier, Le Nouvel Opéra de Paris, plate 1880 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Garnier, Le Nouvel Opéra de Paris, plate 1880 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Beaux-Arts — Main Concourse, Grand Central Terminal (New York) — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 — Main Concourse, Grand Central Terminal (New York) — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

At a glance

Visual cues

Grand axes and staircases
Synthesized classical orders
Sculptural ornament
Stone over iron structure

Best used for

Giving formal order to a station or museum where crowds have to move
Joining a new structure to an existing street using classical vocabulary

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Dictionary entry

Type: Roman capitals carved deep into the band of the entablature
Composition: One main axis, stairs and halls rising in formality along the route
Material: An iron frame inside a stone skin, interiors of marble and sculpture
Caution: Spreading classical parts evenly over every surface with no axis and no hierarchy, so nobody can tell which room is the important one.
Further study: Charles Garnier / the 1893 Chicago World's Fair / McKim, Mead & White

Related entries

Palladianism (パッラーディオ主義)Same Historical Styles lineage.Compare Beaux-Arts and Palladianism
Art Deco (アール・デコ)Same Historical Styles lineage.Compare Beaux-Arts and Art Deco

Often confused with

Palladianism (パッラーディオ主義)compare

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