Influence of botanical research on the development of the art nouveau style in Western Europe and Russia (the late 19th - early 20th centuries)

The author reveals the importance of scientific research in the field of botany and plant acclimatization, as well as related works of botanical illustration, for the development of certain branches of arts and crafts of the Art Nouveau Era in Russia and abroad. A wide range of materials is used: memoirs, albums of botanical illustration, a number of scientific developments reflected in overview monographs on the history and style of Art Nouveau, the results of applied research by art historians, philosophers and specialists in the history of architecture and arts and crafts. The author proceeds from the thesis about the synergy of science and art, which presupposes the consideration of these two forms of understanding objective reality (and the corresponding methods and types of activity) as closely related objects. The author employs diachronic, systemic-historical and historical-genetic methods, as well as iconographic techniques and methods of researching the symbolic content of works. The main idea of the research is to trace and reconstruct the links between developments in the field of scientific gardening at the turn of the 20th century and the development of floral themes in the arts and crafts of the Art Nouveau Era. An exhibition of horticulture, which took place during this period in Western Europe, is considered; and plant species that were popular among specialists engaged in their acclimatization and cultivation are established. Collections of works of botanical illustration and publications on design, published during the period under study, were analyzed to identify the sources of creative searches of European Art Nouveau artists. Attention is paid to the Paris World Exhibition of 1900, which took place at the dawn of the Art Nouveau Era and was a platform for demonstrating the main trends in the development of European art. Floral motives in the works of Russian and foreign jewelers, ceramists, glassblowers and architects are revealed; the degree of their realism is determined, which serves as an indicator of the connection between artistic embodiment and natural prototype. It has been established that the floral plots of Art Nouveau arose largely on the foundation of the discoveries of botanists, and botanical illustration was the basis for the corresponding artistic motives. Knowledge in the field of plant morphology opened new contexts in the iconography of the artistic heritage of Europe and Russia. The use of plants in the works of decorative and applied art in the Art Nouveau Era served as a kind of means for popularizing and preserving natural heritage.