When asked to think of an example of Art Nouveau style, most people cite flowing vines, flowers, and the curling arabesques of hair on the female subjects of posters and advertisements. While lesser known as a category, the subject of the sea and sea creatures were incredibly important to many contemporary artists of the time.
Chromolithography had been used in illustrations for commercial and private printing for decades, but new representations of oceanic animals influenced several artists at the time. One of the pioneering artists of the German Jungenstil movement was Ludwig Vierthaler (German, 1875-1968). Vierthaler worked at Tiffany and Company in New York before returning to Germany and working in a variety of mediums, including silver and bronze. Copper planters and bronze urns bear his designs of the sea. While the organic nature of most international Art Nouveau designs is visible and noted in common insects like butterflies and dragonflies, poppy flowers and trailing vines, the jellyfish appealed to several German artists, including Vierthaler.
This “Sea Form” vase by Vierthaler features a hammered copper surface punctuated by sea flowers or jellyfish. The monumental museum piece with the same design in deeper and more pronounced. This planter was likely one of the items produced for the department store Winhart and Company, and dates to around 1905.
One of my favorite pieces of all time in the Louis Majorelle (French, 1859-1926) cabinet created just five years later by the esteemed French cabinet maker. Utilizing elaborate inlay and veneers, Majorelle’s cabinet features several jellyfish in the top corner.
Gustav Klimpt immortalized the jellyfish, transforming his into mythic female sirens in his 1899 oil on Canvas titled ‘Silverfish’ (Mermaids, Sirens).