By the end of the nineteenth century, belief in scientific and technological progress had become a constitutional component of a modernist ideal that fostered a new generation of individuals eager to propose revolutionary solutions and improve the spirit of our civilization.
Art became a more independent practice aimed at questioning inherited canons and representational patterns rather than a manifestation of a patron’s will.
Although not as radical as some subsequent genres, Art Nouveau appeared to defy what academia had proposed. Although it was articulated theoretically by leading 19th-century intellectuals like French architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879) and British art critic John Ruskin, the concept of breaking the difference between fine arts (especially sculpture and painting) and applied arts was perceived as rebellious (1819–1900).
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