Wall tile, H&R Johnson, Cobridge, Staffordshire, c.1904
The style of this tile is called âArt Nouveauâ. This is French for âNew Artâ. Art Nouveau was a new art for a new century. It featured on buildings and decorative objects around the start of the 1900s.
Art Nouveau was inspired by nature. It used twisting lines and usually included flowers and leaves. This tile shows floating lilies and a leaf. In the early 1900s tiles with lilies and tulips were made to decorate house porches.
Art Nouveau style was developed in Belgium, Vienna and Glasgow and then spread throughout Europe. In England, the style was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement and the Aesthetic movement. These two stylistic movements flourished in the late 1800s.
This tile has been made in a mould so that the lilies, stems and leaf are raised above the background. Moulding was an effective way of showing off the rhythmic lines of Art Nouveau designs.
The tile is covered with a brilliant turquoise translucent glaze. Translucent glazes were the most fashionable finish for tiles in the early 1900s. The translucency of the glaze allows the raised areas of the tile to appear lighter as the glaze is thinner. Where the glaze is thicker on the flatter surface, the colour appears deeper. This gives a two tone effect and makes the picture stand out from the background.
Many tiles were made using techniques that produced designs with a raised surface from 1890 to around 1910. Flat tiles with printed decoration became less popular. Printed decoration of any kind was less frequently used from around 1895.
