The European constructors were offered a new style. It is Art Nouveau which gave the way to novelty and modern opportunities. Almost all the pieces of European Art Nouveau (Jugendstile, Liberty, and Secession) has one common feature: The wish to create the architecture where facades, interior, furniture and even a single spoon are party of unity. One of the brightest examples of the European Art Nouveau is Villa Esche, constructed by Henry van de Velde, where the slightest details express the author. As for techniques, architects believed that their vision could be revealed best by horizontal and straight lines, rounded edges on the facades, huge metal windows and bio and floristic motives.

It should be said that the art, where all the details are created by artists without industrialization, requires higher expenses. Despite this, “the new art” was for people, expressed the people and became the inseparable part of the cities like Paris, Vienna and Prague. The style was shortly widespread to the Eastern Europe and Russia.

Georgian Art Nouveau

It is interesting what the situation in Georgia was when the European architecture and visual art stood on the verge of revolution, or what was going on in the alternative Georgian society and in the social field. Public-cultural life run quite actively that time in Tbilisi, which significantly encouraged the development of the new art. It turned quite easy for Art Nouveau to find its place in Tbilisi, in the city which always honors fashion, style and uniqueness. Moreover, the Georgian new art really tried to be more Georgian rather than European or Russian.

Tbilisi widely opened its heart to the style which combined different art fields and was individualistic. The quality of construction started to be more in focus that time than in earlier years, consequently, several of the Art Nouveau buddings still decorate the city. The Georgian Art Nouveau is easy to detect with its dynamic facades, sculptured elements, painted halls and wide arches. All such buildings, as the stile itself, are very individual. However, the Georgian National Bank building on the Leonidze street in Tbilisi, which was built in 1910 according to the Ohajarovi project, is still an exception with its risalites, tondos and flachreliefs of Mercury and Pluto. Such distinguished examples of Art Nouveau are found in Paris, Athens and Riga. The central shop of Tbilisi, Melik Azariantsi house and Apolo cimena are the inheritance of Art Nouveau.

Art Nouveau is not only about facades, interior, furniture and painting. Beautiful halls of Tbilisi residential buildings are not the main value of the style. The style, as well as every tiniest detail in the architecture, echoes human needs and psychology. Attitudes and facades are changing with time. Despite the fact Tbilisi is adorned with Art Nouveau-style buildings, the biggest achievement is individualism anyway, which is assimilated in details and people.