At the turn of the nineteenth century, Art Nouveau was both Europe and America's boldest and most fashionable style. It could be seen in the sinuous ironwork of the new Paris Metro stations, the curving asymmetry of Lalique's jewellery and Tiffany's Japanese-inspired glassware. Art Nouveau brought a new decorative language to furniture, jewellery and graphic arts, as well as architecture, sculpture and painting.

Known by a variety of names - Jugendstil in Germany, Secession style in Austria, the Modernista movement in Catalonia - it was a truly international new art for an explosive new age. This is the first book to examine Art Nouveau worldwide in the context of the issues of the time: from fin-de-siecle anxieties about the pressures of modern life to nationalism, spiritualism, the emancipation of women and the heroic cult of youth.