150 Full-Color Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive)

Dover Publications is a friend to anyone looking into the past, with its incredible array of reprints of books -- some seminal, some highly idiosyncratic -- in art, architecturre, crafts, math, science, technology, and much more. And they're always affordable.This one captures a point in time more than it inspires. It appears to be largely a collection of wallpaper (or stencil) designs, in mainly muted colors, with each design consisting of from one to three hues.Among the stylized and abstracted natural forms you expect from art nouveau are a very few realistic, kitchy, chocolate-box roses and hollyhocks. They are jarring, the kinds of designs you'd see on your great-aunt Pearl's bread box or your great-grandmother's collection of postcards.Herr Wolfrum -- or his customers -- liked swags, ribbons, classical elements, and vases of cut flowers. One or more of these is part of nearly every design.All told, whether it's the muted colors or the predictable step-and-repeat of the designs themselves, there seem to be few inspiring images. That said, there are individual design elements worth study, from the way a blossom is abstracted to the form of a leaf-spray (the pattern on the cover shows you what I mean).And certainly this collection will be of use to anyone interested in a showcase of vernacular art of the era, unadulterated by today's tastes. Unfortunately the era is hard to pinpoint, since the original book had no date, but I'm guessing 1910. You get all the chic colors of the time: dark olive, brown, tan, dusky red, deep lavender.You never know... in time, everything comes around again. Maybe in 2055, these designs will find their way back to an ecstatic audience. They'd certainly give an inimitable backdrop to the darker Ibsen and Strindberg plays.

Beautiful illustrations - so inspiring!

"150 Full-cullor Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs," by Friedrich Wolfrum and Co. contains 58 pages of designs in color. Amazon.com delivered this book to me, in a timely manner. I do like the book, for its artwork.However, I was quite disappointed that there was no background information on the Friedrich Wolfrum and Co. I was equally disappointed that there was no biography of Friedrich Wolfrum. There is a reason I ordered this book. I had hoped to find information about Friedrich Wolfrum. I had hoped to find copies of his designs, which would match the designs in the stained glass windows from Friedrich Wolfrum in Saint Peter Catholic Church, near Fort Recovery, in Mercer County, Ohio.I have served as Director of the Mercer County Ohio Historical Museum from 1973-2004. I have served as President of the Mercer County Historical Society, 1973 to the present (2010). The Mission of this Society is To Preserve Mercer County History and To Educate the Public about that history.Since Saint Peter Catholic Church, near Fort Recovery, in Mercer County, Ohio is celebrating their 150th Anniversary this year, they asked me for information about the church's stained glass windows, which were purchased from "Friedrich and Wolfrum." I do not know if that was a clerical error, that there were two people, or if this was and individual company, Friedrich Wolfrum and Co. I believe that the windows were purchased from Friedrich Wolfrum. I have been unable to find very much information about Friedrich Wolfrum or this Company.In this book of 150 designs, I found only one small likeness of a design in the stained glass window at Saint Peter Catholic Church. It is the stylized, five petal flower, in the center of page 28. I had hoped to match more of the designs in the book to the stained glass windows in this church. It was not to be.If anyone knows about the history of Friedrich Wolfrum and Co., or knows more about his additional designs for church windows, I would be glad to correspond with them. I would also be glad to share the history about this Church with others.I will share any information given to me, with this Saint Peter Catholic Church.Sincerely,Joyce Alig, PresidentMercer County Ohio Historical Society, Inc.3054 Burk-St. Henry RoadSaint Henry, OH [email protected]

I paint florals so this book is very useful for me. Here's more info about the book:All images are repeating patterns, like on the cover. No single flowers. There are single patterned squares, 4 tiles, & some triptychs.I bought the kindle version. It doesn't label what type of flowers they are.All images are floral patterns.

A nice book with pretty pictures, but I don't know whether it will serve the purpose I bought it for - crafting.Perhaps one of my least favourite Dover Publishing books.