Jugendstil

/yooh"geuhnt shteel'/, n. (sometimes l.c.)

art nouveau as practiced in German-speaking countries.

[1925-30; < G, equiv. to Jugend youth + Stil style]

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Artistic style that arose near the end of the 19th century in Germany and Austria.

Its name was derived from the Munich magazine Die Jugend ("Youth"), founded in 1896, which featured Art Nouveau designs. Its early phase, primarily floral in character, was rooted in English Art Nouveau and Japanese prints; a more abstract phase emerged after 1900. Primarily a style in architecture and the decorative arts, it also included the great Austrian painter Gustav Klimt.

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▪ artistic style

      artistic style that arose in Germany about the mid-1890s and continued through the first decade of the 20th century, deriving its name from the Munich magazine Die Jugend (“Youth”), which featured Art Nouveau designs. Two phases can be discerned in Jugendstil: an early one, before 1900, that is mainly floral in character, rooted in English Art Nouveau and Japanese applied arts and prints; and a later, more abstract phase, growing out of the Viennese work of the Belgian-born architect and designer Henry van de Velde (Velde, Henry van de). See Art Nouveau.

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