Lara Vinca Masini

Another art nouveau book for the collection which I almost 100% skipped reading the text of… Sorry authors of art books, but you better up your linguistic game, because I’d rather look at pictures than waste my time reading boring, academic drivel… In typical fashion Masini dives right into her medium, arguing that the esoteric art nouveau movement has more substance than it is normally given credit for while leading readers on a journey through its many examples country by country. While I heartily agree with her, the constant name dropping, references to other artistic movements, and rather random placement of imagery throughout the text made me lose interest in her argument almost immediately. Thankfully, the book more than makes up for its lack of textual passion with a stunning array of art nouveau examples, ranging from furniture and architectural designs to theatre posters and fine art frescos - proving that the style is possibly more inherent than otherwise known. Its one weakness is that while the book does manage to cover artists spanning the European continent and the United States, the depth of exploration is sometimes lacking. But, with this type of book we are clearly meant to be inspired to go learn more about specific artists and pieces that pique our fancy, and it does an admirable job of doing so.… (more)