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122-683: The award was founded by a group of Palermo intellectuals and academics, and was first directed by the magistrate Francesco Lentini until his death in 2000. Since it is organized by a cultural foundation, Fondazione Sicilia  [ it ] . Since 2012 the award has a partnership with the Turin International Book Fair . The same year it established an award for young writers, the Mondello Giovani Award. Winners include Milan Kundera in 1979, or Cees Nooteboom in 2017. This award -related article

244-838: A basin, formed by the Papireto, Kemonia and Oreto rivers. The basin was named the Conca d'Oro (the Golden Basin) by the Arabs in the 9th century. The city is surrounded by a mountain range which is named after the city itself. These mountains face the Tyrrhenian Sea . Palermo is home to a natural port and offers views to the sea, especially from Monte Pellegrino . Palermo experiences a hot-summer subtropical Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ) with moderate seasonality. Summers are very long, hot and dry due to

366-527: A celebrated poster of Sarah Bernhardt in 1890. In Paris, he taught at the Guérin school of art ( École normale d'enseignement du dessin ), where his students included Augusto Giacometti and Paul Berthon . Swiss-born Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen created the famous poster for the Paris cabaret Le Chat noir in 1896. The Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) arrived in Paris in 1888, and in 1895, made

488-484: A coherent whole. He commissioned the sculptor Alfred Crick and the painter Adolphe Crespin  [ fr ] to decorate the façades of houses with their work. The most striking example was the house and studio built for the artist Albert Ciamberlani at 48, rue Defacqz / Defacqzstraat in Brussels, for which he created an exuberant façade covered with sgraffito murals with painted figures and ornament, recreating

610-773: A collection of Far Eastern art, especially Japanese. New technologies in printing and publishing allowed Art Nouveau to quickly reach a global audience. Art magazines, illustrated with photographs and colour lithographs , played an essential role in popularizing the new style. The Studio in England, Arts et idèes and Art et décoration in France, and Jugend in Germany allowed the style to spread rapidly to all corners of Europe. Aubrey Beardsley in England, and Eugène Grasset , Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , and Félix Vallotton achieved international recognition as illustrators. With

732-628: A famous symbol of the style, the Glasgow Rose". Léon-Victor Solon , made an important contribution to Art Nouveau ceramics as art director at Mintons. He specialised in plaques and in tube-lined vases marketed as "secessionist ware" (usually described as named after the Viennese art movement ). Apart from ceramics, he designed textiles for the Leek silk industry and doublures for a bookbinder (G.T.Bagguley of Newcastle-under-Lyme), who patented

854-485: A figure holding a lamp and mirror symbolises light and truth. German Art Nouveau is commonly known by its German name, Jugendstil , or 'Youth Style'. The name is taken from the artistic journal, Jugend ('Youth'), which was published in Munich. The magazine was founded in 1896 by Georg Hirth , who remained editor until his death in 1916. The magazine survived until 1940. During the early 20th century, Jugendstil

976-748: A fleet laid siege to the city in the Siege of Panormus , which had refused to surrender unlike all the other Ostrogothic-held cities in Sicily, and eventually prevailed. Justinian I solidified his rule in the following years. The Arabs took control of Palermo and most of Sicily in 831, and the Emirate of Sicily was established, though other cities persisted as Byzantine holdouts until as late as 965. Muslim rule in Palermo lasted for about 240 years. Palermo ( Bal'harm during Arab rule) displaced Syracuse as

1098-594: A glass bathtub. Josef Hoffmann designed the Viennese exhibit at the Paris exposition, highlighting the designs of the Vienna Secession . Eliel Saarinen first won international recognition for his imaginative design of the pavilion of Finland. While the Paris Exposition was by far the largest, other expositions did much to popularize the style. The 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition marked

1220-521: A long siege. Indeed, the feat proved difficult because the Normans had never besieged such a populous city with such powerful walls. After 5 months siege, Normans built numerous stairs and war machines and finally conquered the city. The family who returned the city to Christianity were called the Hautevilles , including Robert Guiscard and his army, who is regarded as a hero by the natives. It

1342-804: A mixture of Art Nouveau and Beaux-Arts architecture : the main exhibit hall, the Grand Palais had a Beaux-Arts façade completely unrelated to the spectacular Art Nouveau stairway and exhibit hall in the interior. French designers all made special works for the Exhibition: Lalique crystal and jewellery; jewellery by Henri Vever and Georges Fouquet ; Daum glass; the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres in porcelain ; ceramics by Alexandre Bigot ; sculpted glass lamps and vases by Émile Gallé ; furniture by Édouard Colonna and Louis Majorelle ; and many other prominent arts and crafts firms. At

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1464-419: A new architecture. For each function its material; for each material its form and its ornament." This book influenced a generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan , Victor Horta , Hector Guimard , and Antoni Gaudí . The French painters Maurice Denis , Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard played an important part in integrating fine arts painting with decoration. "I believe that before everything

1586-408: A painting must decorate", Denis wrote in 1891. "The choice of subjects or scenes is nothing. It is by the value of tones, the coloured surface and the harmony of lines that I can reach the spirit and wake up the emotions." These painters all did both traditional painting and decorative painting on screens, in glass, and in other media. Another important influence on the new style was Japonism . This

1708-533: A possession of Carthage . Two Greek colonies were established, known collectively as Panormos ; the Carthaginians used this name on their coins after the 5th century   BC. As Panormus , the town became part of the Roman Republic and Empire for over a thousand years. From 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule in the Emirate of Sicily when the city became the capital of Sicily for

1830-594: A poster for actress Sarah Bernhardt in the play Gismonda by Victorien Sardou in Théâtre de la Renaissance . The success of this poster led to a contract to produce posters for six more plays by Bernhardt. The city of Nancy in Lorraine became the other French capital of the new style. In 1901, the Alliance provinciale des industries d'art , also known as the École de Nancy , was founded, dedicated to upsetting

1952-423: A precursor of Art Nouveau design. In France, it was influenced by the architectural theorist and historian Eugène Viollet-le-Duc , a declared enemy of the historical Beaux-Arts architectural style , whose theories on rationalism were derived from his study of medieval art : Viollet-le-Duc was himself a precursor of Art Nouveau: in 1851, at Notre-Dame de Paris , he created a series of mural paintings typical of

2074-656: A presence as strong as several forces". In 1906, he departed Belgium for Weimar (Germany), where he founded the Grand-Ducal School of Arts and Crafts, where the teaching of historical styles was forbidden. He played an important role in the German Werkbund , before returning to Belgium. The debut of Art Nouveau architecture in Brussels was accompanied by a wave of Decorative Art in the new style. Important artists included Gustave Strauven , who used wrought iron to achieve baroque effects on Brussels façades;

2196-467: A series of innovative glass display windows for Brussels shops, restaurants and galleries, in what a local critic called "a veritable delirium of originality". He died in 1901, just as the movement was beginning to receive recognition. Henry van de Velde , born in Antwerp , was another founding figure in the birth of Art Nouveau. Van de Velde's designs included the interior of his residence in Brussels,

2318-665: A significant underground economy . For cultural, artistic and economic reasons, Palermo is one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and is now among the top tourist destinations in both Italy and Europe. It is the main seat of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale . The city is also going through careful redevelopment, preparing to become one of

2440-554: A strong influence on the work of the young Hector Guimard , who came to see the Hôtel Tassel under construction, and later declared that Horta was the "inventor" of the Art Nouveau. Horta's innovation was not the façade, but the interior, using an abundance of iron and glass to open up space and flood the rooms with light, and decorating them with wrought iron columns and railings in curving vegetal forms, which were echoed on

2562-480: A very different use. He designed the residence of a prominent Belgian chemist, Émile Tassel, on a very narrow and deep site. The central element of the house was the stairway, not enclosed by walls, but open, decorated with a curling wrought-iron railing, and placed beneath a high skylight. The floors were supported by slender iron columns like the trunks of trees. The mosaic floors and walls were decorated with delicate arabesques in floral and vegetal forms, which became

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2684-408: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Palermo Palermo ( / p ə ˈ l ɛər m oʊ , - ˈ l ɜːr -/ pə- LAIR -moh, -⁠ LUR - ; Italian: [paˈlɛrmo] ; Sicilian : Palermu , locally also Paliemmu [paˈljɛmmʊ] or Palèimmu ) is a city in southern Italy , the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and

2806-415: Is a rare occurrence having snowed about a dozen times since 1945. Since the 1940s to nowadays there have been at least five times when considerable snowfall has occurred. In 1949 and in 1956, when the minimum temperature went down to 0 °C (32 °F), the city was blanketed by some centimetres of snow. Snowfalls also occurred in 1981, 1986, 1999 and 2014. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Palermo

2928-513: Is geographically separated from the rest of the range by a plain with the mount lying right in front of the Tyrrhenian Sea . Monte Pellegrino's cliff was described in the 19th century by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , as "the most beautiful promontory in the world", in his essay Italian Journey . Today both the Papireto river and the Kemonia are covered up by buildings. However, the shape of

3050-413: Is only 4 metres (13 ft) wide, but is given extraordinary height by his elaborate architectural inventions. It is entirely covered by polychrome bricks and a network of curling vegetal forms in wrought iron , in a virtually Art Nouveau-Baroque style. Other important Art Nouveau artists from Belgium included the architect and designer Henry van de Velde , though the most important part of his career

3172-408: Is quite simple: a tiny hole in one of the minor domes acts as pinhole camera , projecting an image of the sun onto the floor at solar noon (12:00 in winter, 13:00 in summer). There is a bronze line, la Meridiana , on the floor, running precisely north–south. The ends of the line mark the positions as at the summer and winter solstices ; signs of the zodiac show the various other dates throughout

3294-408: Is surrounded by mountains, which form a cirque around the city. Some districts of the city are divided by the mountains themselves. Historically, it was relatively difficult to reach the inner part of Sicily from the city because of the mounts. The tallest peak of the range is La Pizzuta, about 1,333 m (4,373 ft) high. However, historically, the most important mount is Monte Pellegrino , which

3416-471: Is the greatest builder of all, and nature makes nothing that is parallel and nothing that is symmetric." Parisians welcomed Guimard's original and picturesque style; the Castel Béranger was chosen as one of the best new façades in Paris, launching Guimard's career. Guimard was given the commission to design the entrances for the new Paris Métro system, which brought the style to the attention of

3538-564: The Aragon and Barcelona dynasties. By 1330, Palermo's population had declined to 51,000. From 1479 until 1713 Palermo was ruled by the Kingdom of Spain , and again between 1717 and 1718. Palermo was also under Savoy control between 1713 and 1717 and 1718–1720 as a result of the Treaty of Utrecht . It was ruled by Austria between 1720 and 1734. After the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Sicily

3660-714: The Cappella Palatina , the Chiesa di San Giovanni degli Eremiti , the Chiesa di Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio , the Chiesa di San Cataldo , the Cattedrale di Palermo , the Palazzo della Zisa and the Ponte dell’Ammiraglio , adding to the list that makes Italy the country with most UNESCO world heritage sites. In 2010, there were 1.2 million people living in the greater Palermo area, 655,875 of which resided in

3782-786: The Florio , the Ducrot, the Rutelli , the Sandron , the Whitaker, the Utveggio , and others. In the early twentieth century, Palermo expanded outside the old city walls, mostly to the north along the new boulevards Via Roma , Via Dante , Via Notarbartolo , and Viale della Libertà . These roads would soon boast a huge number of villas in the Art Nouveau style. Many of these were designed by

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3904-669: The French Revolution in 1798. His son Alberto died on the way to Palermo and is buried in the city. When the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was founded, the original capital city was Palermo (1816) but a year later moved to Naples . From 1820 to 1848 Sicily was shaken by upheavals, which culminated on 12 January 1848, with a popular insurrection , the first one in Europe that year, led by Giuseppe La Masa . A parliament and constitution were proclaimed. The first president

4026-636: The Greeks named the settlement Pánormos or 'wide haven' due to its large anchorage, from which the present name of the city developed. The Carthaginians began using the Greek name on the city's coinage from the 5th century   BC. It was from Palermo that Hamilcar I 's fleet (which was defeated at the Battle of Himera ) was launched. In 409 BC the city was looted by Hermocrates of Syracuse . The Sicilian Wars ended in 265 BC when Syracuse allied with

4148-626: The Metropolitan City of Palermo , the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea . The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Sis ("flower"). Palermo then became

4270-635: The Modern Style in English. The style is often related to, but not always identical with, styles that emerged in many countries in Europe and elsewhere at about the same time. Their local names were often used in their respective countries to describe the whole movement. The new art movement had its roots in Britain, in the floral designs of William Morris , and in the Arts and Crafts movement founded by

4392-592: The Mussolini era in the stripped classicism architectural style. It was designed by the rationalist and later fascist government architect, Angiolo Mazzoni . Perhaps its most famous feature is the five mural cycle in the Futurist style painted by the artist Benedetta Cappa titled "Sintesi delle Comunicazioni" (Synthesis of Communication). UNESCO World Heritage Sites include the Palazzo Reale with

4514-647: The Regional Parliament , as capital of a Special Status Region (1947) whose seat is in the Palazzo dei Normanni . In 1948 the element Technetium was discovered in the University of Palermo . A theme in the city's modern age has been the struggle against the Sicilian Mafia , Red Brigades and outlaws such as Salvatore Giuliano , who controlled the neighbouring area of Montelepre . The Italian state effectively has had to share control of

4636-660: The Roman Empire was falling apart, Palermo fell under the control of several Germanic tribes . The first were the Vandals in 440 AD under the rule of their king Geiseric . The Vandals had occupied all the Roman provinces in North Africa by 455 establishing themselves as a significant force. They acquired Corsica , Sardinia and Sicily shortly afterwards. However, they soon lost these newly acquired possessions to

4758-624: The Second World War , Palermo was heavily bombed by the Allied air forces in 1942 and 1943, until its capture during the Allied invasion of Sicily on 22 July 1943. The harbour (main objective of the air attacks) and the surrounding quarters were effectively destroyed, as was a considerable part of the city, with heavy civilian casualties. When American troops entered Palermo in 1943 they were greeted with "a thunderous welcome by what seemed

4880-536: The Sutherland binding in 1895. George Skipper was perhaps the most active Art Nouveau architect in England. The Edward Everard building in Bristol, built during 1900–01 to house the printing works of Edward Everard , features an Art Nouveau façade. The figures depicted are of Johannes Gutenberg and William Morris , both eminent in the field of printing. A winged figure symbolises the "Spirit of Light", while

5002-617: The Villa Bloemenwerf (1895). The exterior of the house was inspired by the Red House , the residence of writer and theorist William Morris , the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement . Trained as a painter, Van de Velde turned to illustration, then to furniture design, and finally to architecture. For the Villa Bloemenwerf, he created the textiles, wallpaper, silverware, jewellery, and even clothing, that matched

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5124-574: The academicism , eclecticism and historicism of 19th century architecture and decorative art. One major objective of Art Nouveau was to break down the traditional distinction between fine arts (especially painting and sculpture) and applied arts. It was most widely used in interior design, graphic arts, furniture, glass art, textiles, ceramics, jewellery and metal work. The style responded to leading 19th century theoreticians, such as French architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) and British art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). In Britain, it

5246-648: The railway station in Haarlem (1906–1908), and the former office building of the Holland America Lines (1917) in Rotterdam , now the Hotel New York . Prominent graphic artists and illustrators in the style included Jan Toorop , whose work inclined toward mysticism and symbolism , even in his posters for salad oil. In their colors and designs, they also sometimes showed the influence of

5368-605: The 1880s could also be adduced, or some flat floral textile designs, most of which owed some impetus to patterns of 19th century design. Other British graphic artists who had an important place in the style included Walter Crane and Charles Ashbee . The Liberty department store in London played an important role, through its colourful stylised floral designs for textiles, and the silver, pewter, and jewellery designs of Manxman (of Scottish descent) Archibald Knox . His jewellery designs in materials and forms broke away entirely from

5490-495: The 1900 Exposition, the capital of Art Nouveau was Paris. The most extravagant residences in the style were built by Jules Lavirotte , who entirely covered the façades with ceramic sculptural decoration. The most flamboyant example is the Lavirotte Building , at 29, avenue Rapp (1901). Office buildings and department stores featured high courtyards covered with stained glass cupolas and ceramic decoration. The style

5612-469: The 1900 Paris Exposition, Siegfried Bing presented a pavilion called Art Nouveau Bing , which featured six different interiors entirely decorated in the Style. The Exposition was the first international showcase for Art Nouveau designers and artists from across Europe and beyond. Prize winners and participants included Alphonse Mucha , who made murals for the pavilion of Bosnia-Herzegovina and designed

5734-898: The Art Nouveau work of artists such as Louis Tiffany . It appeared in graphic arts in the posters of Alphonse Mucha , and the glassware of René Lalique and Émile Gallé . From Britain, Belgium and France, Art Nouveau spread to the rest of Europe, taking on different names and characteristics in each country (see Naming section below). It often appeared not only in capitals, but also in rapidly growing cities that wanted to establish artistic identities ( Turin and Palermo in Italy; Glasgow in Scotland; Munich and Darmstadt in Germany; Barcelona in Catalonia , Spain), as well as in centres of independence movements ( Helsinki in Finland, then part of

5856-439: The Chain). The sea-side wall was along the western side of Foro Italico Umberto. The wall turns west along the northern side of Via Abramo Lincoln, continues along Corso Tukory. The wall turns north approximately on Via Benedetto, to Palazzo dei Normanni and back to Porta Nuova. Several gates in the city wall survive. Up until the beginning of the 20th century there were hundreds of small opera theatres known as magazzeni in

5978-432: The City boundaries, of whom 47.4% were male and 52.6% were female. People under age 15 totalled 15.6% compared to pensioners who composed 17.2% of the population. This compares with the Italian average of 14.1% people under 15 years and 20.2% pensioners. The average age of a Palermo resident is 40.4 compared to the Italian average of 42.8. In the ten years between 2001 and 2010, the population of Palermo declined by 4.5%, while

6100-417: The Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Carthage was Palermo's major trading partner under the Phoenicians and the city enjoyed a prolonged peace during this period. Palermo came into contact with the Ancient Greeks between the 6th and the 5th centuries BC which preceded the Sicilian Wars , a conflict fought between the Greeks of Syracuse and the Carthaginians for control over the island of Sicily. During this war

6222-500: The Hankar House, his own residence in Brussels. With a goal to create a synthesis of fine arts and decorative arts, he brought together the sculptor René Janssens and the painter Albert Ciamberlani to decorate the interior and exterior with sgraffiti , or murals. The façade and balconies featured iron decoration and curling lines in stylised floral patterns, which became an important feature of Art Nouveau. Based on this model, he built several houses for his artist friends. He also designed

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6344-407: The Modern Style is Arthur Mackmurdo 's design for the cover of his essay on the city churches of Sir Christopher Wren , published in 1883, as is his Mahogany chair from the same year. Other important innovators in Britain included the graphic designers Aubrey Beardsley whose drawings featured the curved lines that became the most recognizable feature of the style. Free-flowing wrought iron from

6466-464: The Ostrogoths. The Ostrogothic conquest under Theodoric the Great began in 488; Theodoric supported Roman culture and government unlike the Germanic Goths. The Gothic War took place between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire . Sicily was the first part of Italy to be taken under control of General Belisarius who was commissioned by the Eastern Emperor . In late 535 his Byzantine army of 7,500–9,000 and

6588-417: The Paleapolis and the port. The new district expanded rapidly, exceeding the size of the old quarter, and soon became the site of markets, artisan and commercial activities. The walls were extended to embrace the new urban perimeter and two new gates were made, while the old gate at the port was moved to make room for the new buildings. In total there were 4 gates, one on each side of the city. The walls followed

6710-594: The Romans of Italy and pushed the Carthaginians off of the island during the First Punic War . In 276 BC, during the Pyrrhic War , Panormos briefly became a Greek colony after being conquered by Pyrrhus of Epirus , but returned to Phoenician Carthage in 275 BC. In 254 BC Panormos was besieged and conquered by the Romans. Carthage attempted to reconquer Panormus in the battle of Panormus 250 BC but failed. In Roman times luxurious residences were built and have been found in several locations (piazza Sett'Angeli, Palazzo Sclafani, piazza della Vittoria). As

6832-448: The Russian Empire). By 1914, with the beginning of the First World War , Art Nouveau was largely exhausted. In the 1920s, it was replaced as the dominant architectural and decorative art style by Art Deco and then Modernism . The Art Nouveau style began to receive more positive attention from critics in the late 1960s, with a major exhibition of the work of Hector Guimard at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970. The term Art Nouveau

6954-410: The Savoy kingdom; in 1866, Palermo became the seat of a week-long popular rebellion, which was finally crushed after martial law was declared. The Italian government blamed anarchists and the Church, specifically the Archbishop of Palermo, for the rebellion and began enacting anti-Sicilian and anti-clerical policies. A new cultural, economic and industrial growth was spurred by several families, like

7076-463: The Secession Style in Vienna. His architectural creations included the Glasgow Herald Building (1894) and the library of the Glasgow School of Art (1897). He also established a major reputation as a furniture designer and decorator, working closely with his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh , a prominent painter and designer. Together they created striking designs that combined geometric straight lines with gently curving floral decoration, particularly

7198-564: The ancient core of the Phoenician city, the Palaeopolis or Paleapolis (in the area east of Porta Nuova) and the Neapolis . Via Vittorio Emanuele was the main road east–west through this early walled city. The eastern edge of the walled city was on Via Roma and the ancient port in the vicinity of Piazza Marina. The wall circuit was approximately Porto Nuovo, Corso Alberti, Piazza Peranni, Via Isodoro, Via Candela, Via Venezia, Via Roma, Piazza Paninni, Via Biscottari, Via Del Bastione, Palazzo dei Normanni and back to Porto Nuovo. The walls followed

7320-419: The architect Ernesto Basile . The Grand Hotel Villa Igiea , designed by Ernesto Basile for the Florio family, is a good example of Palermitan Art Nouveau. The huge Teatro Massimo was designed in the same period by Giovan Battista Filippo Basile , Ernesto's father, and built by the Rutelli & Machì building firm of the industrial and old Rutelli Italian family in Palermo, and was opened in 1897. During

7442-423: The architecture and interior design of houses designed by Paul Hankar , Henry van de Velde , and especially Victor Horta , whose Hôtel Tassel was completed in 1893. It moved quickly to Paris, where it was adapted by Hector Guimard , who saw Horta's work in Brussels and applied the style to the entrances of the new Paris Métro . It reached its peak at the 1900 Paris International Exposition , which introduced

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7564-508: The area now known as Palermo goes back to at least the Mesolithic period, perhaps around 8000 BC , where a group of cave drawings at nearby Addaura from that period have been found. The original inhabitants were Sicani people who, according to Thucydides , arrived from the Iberian Peninsula (perhaps Catalonia ). In the 8th c. BC the Phoenicians built a small settlement on the natural harbour of Palermo, which became known as Ziz ( Punic : 𐤑‬𐤉𐤑 , ṢYṢ ). It became one of

7686-610: The art of Java. Important figures in Dutch ceramics and porcelain included Jurriaan Kok and Theo Colenbrander . They used colorful floral pattern and more traditional Art Nouveau motifs, combined with unusual forms of pottery and contrasting dark and light colors, borrowed from the batik decoration of Java. Art Nouveau had its roots in Britain, in the Arts and Crafts movement which started in 1860s and reached international recognition by 1880s. It called for better treatment of decorative arts, and took inspiration in medieval craftmanship and design, and nature. One notable early example of

7808-674: The beginning of 1860, a Far Eastern influence suddenly manifested. In 1862, art lovers from London or Paris, could buy Japanese artworks , because in that year, Japan appeared for the first time as an exhibitor at the International Exhibition in London. Also in 1862, in Paris, La Porte Chinoise store, on Rue de Rivoli , was open, where Japanese ukiyo-e and other objects from the Far East were sold. In 1867, Examples of Chinese Ornaments by Owen Jones appeared, and in 1870 Art and Industries in Japan by R. Alcock, and two years later, O. H. Moser and T. W. Cutler published books about Japanese art. Some Art Nouveau artists, like Victor Horta , owned

7930-406: The beginning of the Modernisme style in Spain, with some buildings of Lluís Domènech i Montaner . The Esposizione internazionale d'arte decorativa moderna of 1902 in Turin, Italy, showcased designers from across Europe, including Victor Horta from Belgium and Joseph Maria Olbrich from Vienna, along with local artists such as Carlo Bugatti , Galileo Chini and Eugenio Quarti . Following

8052-409: The borough of Mondello . Shown above are the thirty five quarters of Palermo: these thirty five neighbourhoods or " quartiere " as they are known, are further divided into eight governmental community boards. Palermo has a large architectural heritage and is notable for its many Norman buildings . Palermo had two rings of city walls , many parts of which still survive. The first ring surrounded

8174-419: The capital of Sicily. It was said to have then begun to compete with Córdoba and Cairo in terms of importance and splendor. For more than a hundred years Palermo was the capital of a flourishing emirate . The Arabs also introduced many agricultural crops which remain a mainstay of Sicilian cuisine . After dynastic quarrels however, there was a Norman conquest in 1072. Normans conquered Palermo after

8296-428: The city for its appealing Mediterranean climate, its renowned gastronomy and restaurants , its Romanesque , Gothic , Baroque and Art Nouveau churches , palaces and buildings , and its nightlife and music . Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial center: the main industrial sectors include tourism , services , commerce and agriculture . Palermo has an international airport and

8418-417: The city has a population of around 676,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Palermitani or, poetically, panormiti . The languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language and the Palermitano dialect of the Sicilian language . Palermo is Sicily's cultural , economic and tourism capital. It is a city rich in history , culture , art , music and food . Numerous tourists are attracted to

8540-424: The city of Palermo. The " Wall of Legality " ( Il Muro Della Legalità ) depicts 38 important persons who helped in fighting the mafia. The street art project was inaugurated in July 2022 and is a joint effort by 19 artists. It can be found at Piazza degli Aragonesi. The cathedral has a heliometer (solar observatory) dating to 1690, one of a number built in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. The device itself

8662-437: The correct date for Easter . The Orto botanico di Palermo (Palermo Botanical Garden), founded in 1785, is the largest in Italy with a surface of 10 ha (25 acres). One site of interest is the Capuchin Catacombs , with many mummified corpses in varying degrees of preservation. Close to the city is the 600 m-high (2,000 ft) Monte Pellegrino , offering a panorama of the city, its surrounding mountains and

8784-530: The course of the two rivers that surround the city, the Kemonia and the Papireto, creating a natural moat and improving the military security of the city. During the Roman era they were reinforced. The Cassaro district was probably named after the walls themselves; the word Cassaro deriving from the Arab al-qaṣr (castle, stronghold, see also alcázar ). The colony developed around a central street ( decumanus ) now

8906-411: The course of the two rivers that surround the city, the Kemonia and the Papireto, creating a natural moat and improving the military security of the city. During the Roman era, they were certainly implemented, as deducible from the subsequent account of Procopius of Caesarea about the capture of Palermo. In the medieval period the city was expanded with a second wall. Via Vittorio Emanuele continued to be

9028-567: The decorative architecture of the Quattrocento , or 15th-century Italy. Hankar died in 1901, when his work was just receiving recognition. Gustave Strauven began his career as an assistant designer working with Horta, before he started his own practice at age 21, making some of the most extravagant Art Nouveau buildings in Brussels. His most famous work is the Saint-Cyr House at 11, square Ambiorix / Ambiorixsquare . The house

9150-534: The design of the fair, and Henri Privat-Livemont created the poster for the exhibition. The Franco-German art dealer and publisher Siegfried Bing played a key role in publicizing the style. In 1891, he founded a magazine devoted to the art of Japan, which helped publicize Japonism in Europe. In 1892, he organized an exhibit of seven artists, among them Pierre Bonnard , Félix Vallotton , Édouard Vuillard , Toulouse-Lautrec and Eugène Grasset , which included both modern painting and decorative work. This exhibition

9272-412: The designs of the textiles and batik from Java . The most important architect and furniture designer in the style was Hendrik Petrus Berlage , who denounced historical styles and advocated a purely functional architecture. He wrote, "It is necessary to fight against the art of illusion, to and to recognize the lie, in order to find the essence and not the illusion." Like Victor Horta and Gaudí , he

9394-442: The domination of subtropical high pressure system, while winters are mild and changeable, with rainy weather due to the polar front. Temperatures in autumn and spring are typically warm. Palermo is one of the warmest cities in Europe (mainly due to its warm nights), with an average annual air temperature of 18 °C (64 °F); it is one of the warmest cities in Italy. It receives approximately 2,530 hours of sunshine per year. Snow

9516-459: The entire population demonstrating their feelings about Fascist rule." The two captured Italian generals claimed that they were happy because in their view "the Sicilians were not human beings but animals". Anti-Sicilian prejudice was part of the fascist regime's world view, being promoted by pro-fascist newspapers, particularly in the north of Italy. In 1946 the city was declared the seat of

9638-485: The few Art Nouveau products that could be mass-produced was the perfume bottle, and these are still manufactured in the style today. Belgium was an early centre of Art Nouveau, thanks largely to the architecture of Victor Horta , who designed one of the first Art Nouveau houses, the Hôtel Tassel in 1893, and three other townhouses in variations of the same style. They are now UNESCO World Heritage sites . Horta had

9760-461: The first time. During this time the city was known as Balarm . Following the Norman conquest , Palermo became the capital of a new kingdom, the Kingdom of Sicily , that lasted from 1130 to 1816. The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, while its metropolitan area is the fifth most populated in Italy with around 1.2 million people. In the central area,

9882-497: The floors and walls, as well as the furniture and carpets which Horta designed. Paul Hankar was another pioneer of Brussels' Art Nouveau. His house was completed in 1893, the same year as Horta's Hôtel Tassel, and featured sgraffiti murals on the façade. Hankar was influenced by both Viollet-le-Duc and the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement . His conception idea was to bring together decorative and fine arts in

10004-479: The former watercourses can still be recognised today, because the streets that were built on them follow their shapes. Today the only waterway not drained yet is the Oreto river that divides the downtown of the city from the western uptown and the industrial districts. In the basins there were, though, many seasonal torrents that helped formed swampy plains, reclaimed during history; a good example of which can be found in

10126-423: The furniture designer Gustave Serrurier-Bovy , known for his highly original chairs and articulated metal furniture; and the jewellery designer Philippe Wolfers , who made jewellery in the form of dragonflies, butterflies, swans and serpents. The Brussels International Exposition held in 1897 brought international attention to the style; Horta, Hankar, Van de Velde, and Serrurier-Bovy, among others, took part in

10248-476: The hierarchy that put painting and sculpture above the decorative arts. The major artists working there included the glass vase and lamp creators Émile Gallé , the Daum brothers in glass design, and the designer Louis Majorelle , who created furniture with graceful floral and vegetal forms. The architect Henri Sauvage brought the new architectural style to Nancy with his Villa Majorelle in 1902. The French style

10370-519: The historical traditions of jewellery design. For Art Nouveau architecture and furniture design, the most important centre in Britain was Glasgow , with the creations of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School , whose work was inspired by Scottish baronial architecture and Japanese design. Beginning in 1895, Mackintosh displayed his designs at international expositions in London, Vienna, and Turin; his designs particularly influenced

10492-482: The main road east–west through the walled city. The west gate was still Porta Nuova, the walls continued to Corso Alberti, to Piazza Vittorio Emanuele Orlando where it turned east along Via Volturno to Piazza Verdi and along the line of Via Cavour. At this northeast corner the Castello a Mare protected the port at La Cala. A huge chain was used to block La Cala with the other end at Santa Maria della Catena (St Mary of

10614-554: The major cities of the Euro-Mediterranean area. Roman Catholicism is highly important in Palermitan culture. The Patron Saint of Palermo is Santa Rosalia whose Feast Day is celebrated on 15 July. The area attracts significant numbers of tourists each year and is widely known for its colourful fruit, vegetable and fish markets at the heart of Palermo, known as Vucciria , Ballarò and Capo . Palermo lies in

10736-574: The menu for the restaurant of the pavilion; the decorators and designers Bruno Paul and Bruno Möhring from Berlin; Carlo Bugatti from Turin ; Bernhardt Pankok from Bavaria ; The Russian architect-designer Fyodor Schechtel , and Louis Comfort Tiffany and Company from the United States. The Viennese architect Otto Wagner was a member of the jury, and presented a model of the Art Nouveau bathroom of his own town apartment in Vienna, featuring

10858-458: The millions of visitors to the city's 1900 Exposition Universelle . The Paris 1900 Exposition universelle marked the high point of Art Nouveau. Between April and November 1900, it attracted nearly fifty million visitors from around the world, and showcased the architecture, design, glassware, furniture and decorative objects of the style. The architecture of the Exposition was often

10980-652: The most popular signature of the style. In a short period, Horta built three more town houses, all with open interiors, and all with skylights for maximum interior light: the Hôtel Solvay , the Hôtel van Eetvelde (for Edmond van Eetvelde ), and the Maison & Atelier Horta . All four are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Paul Hankar was also an innovator of early Art Nouveau. Born at Frameries , in Hainaut ,

11102-650: The name Munich Secession for the Association of Visual Artists of Munich . The Vienna Secession , founded in 1897, and the Berlin Secession also took their names from the Munich group. The journals Jugend and Simplicissimus , published in Munich, and Pan , published in Berlin, were important proponents of the Jugendstil . Jugendstil art combined sinuous curves and more geometric lines, and

11224-429: The new style, between 1895 and 1898. Parisians had been complaining of the monotony of the architecture of the boulevards built under Napoleon III by Georges-Eugène Haussmann . The Castel Beranger was a curious blend of Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau, with curving whiplash lines and natural forms. Guimard, a skilled publicist for his work, declared: "What must be avoided at all cost is...the parallel and symmetry. Nature

11346-719: The population of Italy, as a whole, grew by 6.0%. The reason for Palermo's decline is a population flight to the suburbs, and to Northern Italy . The current birth rate of Palermo is 10.2 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.3 births. As of 2006 , 97.79% of the population was of Italian descent. The largest immigrant group came from South Asia (mostly from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (Mostly Tamils )): 0.80%, other European countries (mostly from Albania , Romania , Serbia , North Macedonia and Ukraine ): 0.3%, and North Africa (mostly from Tunisia and Morocco ): 0.28%. Evidence of human settlement in

11468-668: The posters by Jules Chéret for dancer Loie Fuller in 1893, and by Alphonse Mucha for actress Sarah Bernhardt in 1895, the poster became not just advertising, but an art form. Sarah Bernhardt set aside large numbers of her posters for sale to collectors. The first Art Nouveau town houses, the Hankar House by Paul Hankar (1893) and the Hôtel Tassel by Victor Horta (1892–1893), were built almost simultaneously in Brussels . They were similar in their originality, but very different in their design and appearance. Victor Horta

11590-659: The principles of constructivism . Everything was functional, including the lines of rivets that decorated the walls of the main room. He often included very tall towers to his buildings to make them more prominent, a practice used by other Art Nouveau architects of the period, including Joseph Maria Olbrich in Vienna and Eliel Saarinen in Finland. Other buildings in the style include the American Hotel (1898–1900), also by Berlage; and Astoria (1904–1905) by Herman Hendrik Baanders and Gerrit van Arkel in Amsterdam ;

11712-646: The pupils of Morris. Early prototypes of the style include the Red House with interiors by Morris and architecture by Philip Webb (1859), and the lavish Peacock Room by James Abbott McNeill Whistler . The new movement was also strongly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite painters, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones , and especially by British graphic artists of the 1880s, including Selwyn Image , Heywood Sumner , Walter Crane , Alfred Gilbert , and especially Aubrey Beardsley . The chair designed by Arthur Mackmurdo has been recognized as

11834-466: The sea. Another good panoramic viewpoint is the promontory of Monte Gallo (586 m; 1,923 ft), near Mondello Beach. Moreton Bay fig of >30 m girth and of 32m height can be found on the Piazza Marina. This Ficus macrophylla is most probably the thickest tree in Europe. On the boulevard Via Roma is the Palazzo delle Poste , an official Italian government building created during

11956-451: The sinuous curves of plants and flowers. Other characteristics of Art Nouveau were a sense of dynamism and movement, often given by asymmetry or whiplash lines , and the use of modern materials, particularly iron, glass, ceramics and later concrete, to create unusual forms and larger open spaces. It was popular between 1890 and 1910 during the Belle Époque period, and was a reaction against

12078-500: The son of a master stone cutter, he had studied ornamental sculpture and decoration at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels from 1873 to 1884, whilst working as an ornamental sculptor. From 1879 to 1904, he worked in the studio of the prominent architect Henri Beyaert , a master of eclectic and neoclassical architecture . Through Beyaert, Hankar also became an admirer of Viollet-le-Duc. In 1893, Hankar designed and built

12200-476: The style of the residence. Van de Velde went to Paris, where he designed furniture and decoration for the German-French art dealer Siegfried Bing , whose Paris gallery gave the style its name. He was also an early Art Nouveau theorist, demanding the use of dynamic, often opposing lines. Van de Velde wrote: "A line is a force like all the other elementary forces. Several lines put together but opposed have

12322-660: The style was known as the Nieuwe Stijl ('New Style'), or Nieuwe Kunst ('New Art'), and it took a different direction from the more floral and curving style in Belgium. It was influenced by the more geometric and stylised forms of the German Jugendstil and Austrian Vienna Secession . It was also influenced by the art and imported woods from Indonesia , then the Dutch East Indies , particularly

12444-530: The style. These paintings were removed in 1945 as deemed non academic. At the Château de Roquetaillade in the Bordeaux region, his interior decorations dating from 1865 also anticipate Art Nouveau. In his 1872 book Entretiens sur l'architecture , he wrote, "Use the means and knowledge given to us by our times, without the intervening traditions which are no longer viable today, and in that way we can inaugurate

12566-535: The territory, economically and administratively, with the Mafia. Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( / ˌ ɑː r ( t ) n uː ˈ v oʊ / AR(T) noo- VOH , French: [aʁ nuvo] ; lit.   ' New Art ' ), Jugendstil  in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art , especially the decorative arts . It was often inspired by natural forms such as

12688-534: The three main Phoenician colonies of Sicily, along with Motya and Soluntum . The first settlement was later known as Paleapolis meaning "Old City". The site chosen by the Phoenicians was connected to the mountains with two roads that today have become Via Cappuccini and Corso Pisani. The Neapolis or "New City", the nucleus of the subsequent expansion of the colony, soon developed in the area between

12810-488: The time of its creation, did not aspire in any way to have the honor of becoming a generic term. It was simply the name of a house opened as a rallying point for all the young and ardent artists impatient to show the modernity of their tendencies." The style was quickly noticed in neighbouring France. After visiting Horta's Hôtel Tassel, Hector Guimard built the Castel Béranger , among the first Paris buildings in

12932-511: The wealthiest states in Europe. Thanks to the marriage between Constance, Queen of Sicily , and Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor , Palermo and the whole Sicily was inherited by their son Frederick II , who became King of Sicily in 1198 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1220. Palermo was the capital of Emperor Frederick II 's vast empire and also his favorite city. Muslims of Palermo emigrated or were expelled during Frederick's rule. After an interval of Angevin rule (1266–1282), Sicily came under control of

13054-527: The year. The purpose of the instrument was to standardise the measurement of time and the calendar . The convention in Sicily had been that the (24‑hour) day was measured from the moment of dawn, which of course meant that no two locations had the same time and, more importantly, did not have the same time as in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome . It was also important to know when the vernal equinox occurred, to provide

13176-589: Was Ruggero Settimo . The Bourbons reconquered Palermo in 1849, and it remained under their rule until the Expedition of the Thousand , led by Giuseppe Garibaldi , conquered the city after the Siege of Palermo in May 1860. After the plebiscite later that year Palermo, along with the rest of Sicily, became part of the new Kingdom of Italy (1861). The majority of Sicilians preferred independence to annexation to

13298-527: Was a wave of enthusiasm for Japanese woodblock printing , particularly the works of Hiroshige , Hokusai , and Utagawa Kunisada , which were imported into Europe beginning in the 1870s. The enterprising Siegfried Bing founded a monthly journal, Le Japon artistique in 1888, and published thirty-six issues before it ended in 1891. It influenced both collectors and artists, including Gustav Klimt . The stylised features of Japanese prints appeared in Art Nouveau graphics, porcelain, jewellery, and furniture. Since

13420-451: Was among the most influential architects of early Art Nouveau, and his Hôtel Tassel (1892–1893) in Brussels is one of the style's landmarks. Horta's architectural training was as an assistant to Alphonse Balat , architect to King Leopold II , constructing the monumental iron and glass Royal Greenhouses of Laeken . He was a great admiror of Viollet-le-Duc , whose ideas he completely identified with. In 1892–1893, he put this experience to

13542-586: Was an admirer of architectural theories of Viollet-le-Duc . His furniture was designed to be strictly functional, and to respect the natural forms of wood, rather than bending or twisting it as if it were metal. He pointed to the example of Egyptian furniture, and preferred chairs with right angles. His first and most famous architectural work was the Beurs van Berlage (1896–1903), the Amsterdam Commodities Exchange, which he built following

13664-576: Was applied only to the graphic arts. It referred especially to the forms of typography and graphic design found in German magazines such as Jugend , Pan , and Simplicissimus . Jugendstil was later applied to other versions of Art Nouveau in Germany, the Netherlands. The term was borrowed from German by several languages of the Baltic states and Nordic countries to describe Art Nouveau (see Naming section). In 1892 Georg Hirth chose

13786-703: Was first used in the 1880s in the Belgian journal L'Art Moderne to describe the work of Les Vingt , twenty painters and sculptors seeking reform through art. The name was popularized by the Maison de l'Art Nouveau ('House of the New Art'), an art gallery opened in Paris in 1895 by the Franco-German art dealer Siegfried Bing . In Britain, the French term Art Nouveau was commonly used, while in France, it

13908-651: Was handed over to the House of Savoy , but by 1734 it was in Bourbon possession. Charles III chose Palermo for his coronation as King of Sicily . Charles had new houses built for the growing population, while trade and industry grew as well. However, Palermo had become just another provincial city as the Royal Court resided in Naples. Charles' son Ferdinand , though disliked by the population, took refuge in Palermo after

14030-402: Was influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement . German architects and designers sought a spiritually uplifting Gesamtkunstwerk ('total work of art') that would unify the architecture, furnishings, and art in the interior in a common style, to uplift and inspire the residents. The first Art Nouveau houses and interior decoration appeared in Brussels in the 1890s, in

14152-624: Was often called by the term Style moderne (akin to the British term Modern Style ), or Style 1900 . In France, it was also sometimes called Style Jules Verne (after the novelist Jules Verne ), Style Métro (after Hector Guimard 's iron and glass subway entrances), Art Belle Époque , or Art fin de siècle . Art Nouveau is known by different names in different languages: Jugendstil in German, Stile Liberty in Italian, Modernisme in Catalan, and also known as

14274-523: Was particularly popular in restaurants and cafés, including Maxim's at 3, rue Royale , and Le Train bleu at the Gare de Lyon (1900). The status of Paris attracted foreign artists to the city. The Swiss-born artist Eugène Grasset was one of the first creators of French Art Nouveau posters. He helped decorate the famous cabaret Le Chat Noir in 1885, made his first posters for the Fêtes de Paris and

14396-749: Was shown at the Société nationale des beaux-arts in 1895. In the same year, Bing opened a new gallery at 22 rue de Provence in Paris, the Maison de l'Art Nouveau , devoted to new works in both the fine and decorative arts. The interior and furniture of the gallery were designed by the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde , one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau architecture. The Maison de l'Art Nouveau showed paintings by Georges Seurat , Paul Signac and Toulouse-Lautrec , glass from Louis Comfort Tiffany and Émile Gallé , jewellery by René Lalique , and posters by Aubrey Beardsley . The works shown there were not at all uniform in style. Bing wrote in 1902, "Art Nouveau, at

14518-471: Was spent in Germany; he strongly influenced the decoration of the Jugendstil . Others included the decorator Gustave Serrurier-Bovy , and the graphic artist Fernand Khnopff . Belgian designers took advantage of an abundant supply of ivory imported from the Belgian Congo ; mixed sculptures, combining stone, metal and ivory, by such artists as Philippe Wolfers , was popular. In the Netherlands,

14640-590: Was under his nephew Roger II of Sicily that Norman holdings in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula were promoted from the County of Sicily into the Kingdom of Sicily . The kingdom's capital was Palermo, with the King's Court held at the Palazzo dei Normanni . Much construction was undertaken during this period, such as the building of Palermo Cathedral . The Kingdom of Sicily became one of

14762-499: Was widely propagated by new magazines, including The Studio , Arts et Idées and Art et Décoration , whose photographs and colour lithographs made the style known to designers and wealthy clients around the world. In France, the style reached its summit in 1900, and thereafter slipped rapidly out of fashion, virtually disappearing from France by 1905. Art Nouveau was a luxury style, which required expert and highly-paid craftsmen, and could not be easily or cheaply mass-produced. One of

14884-520: Was −2.5 °C (27 °F) in February 1967. The average annual temperature of the sea is above 19 °C (66 °F); from 14 °C (57 °F) in February to 26 °C (79 °F) in August. In the period from November to May, the average sea temperature exceeds 18 °C (64 °F) and in the period from June to October, the average sea temperature exceeds 21 °C (70 °F). Palermo

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