I chose to do my original work about my year. Recently, for reasons both related and unrelated to this class, I've been very inspired by Alphonse Mucha's work, so I decided to focus mostly on his images in this piece. I also really have grown to like the work of William Morris, so he is the Arts and Crafts movement artist I focused on. 

Here are the works I chose:

The Seasons

Alphonse Mucha

1897

Le Pater

Alphonse Mucha

1899

Salon des Cent

Alphonse Mucha

1897

Trademark for Kelmscott Press

William Morris

1892

Honeysuckle Pattern

William Morris

Design date: 1876

I chose two works from Mucha specifically because the figures remind me of myself in the last year. The winter girl from Mucha's The Seasons seems lonely and cold, yet content and even happy. She reminds me of myself because although I have been lonely since my family moved away at the beginning of the school year, I've been really blessed by a fantastic boyfriend, great friends, perfectly timed opportunities, and so on. The expression of the girl with the paintbrush reminds me of the work I've been putting into my own art and the thoughts that spin through my head at all times. I tweaked the color of her hair to match mine a little better. The busy patterning in the work is meant to show how busy this year has been for me with school, RA responsibilities, work, and more. I replaced the text William Morris's Kelmscott logo with the school year, for obvious reasons. 

Here are my components:

Gothic/medieval influence -

 I included the Kelmscott logo because I found it to be a very obvious example of the medieval influence during the Arts and Crafts movement. That influence is evident in the Art Nouveau period as well, and can be seen best in some of the loose knotwork in Le Pater by Mucha. 

Pattern -

 Patterns are a very strong component in both the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movement, particularly the latter. I included the Honeysuckle pattern by William Morris because I thought it was a very pretty example of the intricate patterns in the Arts and Crafts era. 

Japanese influence - 

The flat layered composition of Mucha's works, particularly The Seasons, is reminiscent of Japanese prints. This is common in Art Nouveau works. tried to reflect that in my own piece by layering the pictures and nesting them within each other.

Emphasis on female form - 

I included two of Mucha's iconic female figures in my work to illustrate the use of female figures in Art Nouveau images. 

Botanical forms - 

Plant forms are common in both Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts. I put a lot of emphasis on botanical forms in my picture by including the Honeysuckle pattern by William Morris and the border from Mucha's Le Pater. There are also more stylized plant forms in Morris's Kelmscott logo and in The Seasons. 

Contrast of Asymmetry and Symmetry - 

I chose a symmetrical border from Mucha's Le Pater and placed the figures asymmetrically inside to imitate the layouts that are often seen in Art Nouveau works such as those by Alphonse Mucha. 

Contrast of Organic form and Geometric form - 

I kept the strong circular and rectangular forms to separate the work into sections, but these shapes are surrounded by organic patterns like knotwork and plant forms. This contrast shows up in a lot of Art Nouveau works and Arts and Crafts pieces, and is evident in The Seasons, Le Pater, and the Kelmscott logo. 

Decorative elements - 

Basically all of the knotwork, plant forms, and patterning can be termed as decorative elements in my work. Decorative elements, I think, are one of the most important and defining components of both the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts, as nearly every work has some kind of decoration to it. 

Stylized figures - 

Art nouveau's figures tend to be very stylized. Mucha's figures often feature simplified faces and long, flowing hair and gowns. I picked two of his very stylized figures to feature in my piece. 

Complexity vs. Simplicity - 

Arts and Crafts works tend to be very complex, such as the Honeysuckle pattern and even the Kelmscott logo by Morris. Art Nouveau has a lovely contrast of complexity and simplicity, which can be seen by Mucha's complex plant borders juxtaposed with his relatively simple figures (simple in that their actual bodies and faces do not involve a lot of line work or shading). I reflected this in my work by surrounding two clean figures by a lot of very dense complex patterning.