The Art Nouveau (French for "new art") movement grew as a reaction to the excesses of other more-academic 19th-century revivals. Its proponents reinterpreted their sources of inspiration—the art of Japan, nature, and geometry—in their efforts to reform the arts and create a new visual vocabulary suited to modern life. These designers sought to create a total and complete decorative style that combined all the arts—including sculpture, painting, graphics, decorative arts, and architecture—in a single, expressive whole.
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