Art Nouveau is the name given to a short cultural-historical epoch of style development and search for reform around and after 1900: the rebellion of youth against the old.

The new movement received its German name from the art and literary magazine Jugend, which was first published in Munich in 1896. Jugendstil is not a uniform style, but an international movement with the common goal of renewing art, decorative arts and architecture. Through the linear and floral language of form, the emphasis on the surface, the new colorfulness, the different motifs and new materials, the architects and artists consciously set themselves apart from tradition and academism. In doing so, they prepared the ground for the avant-garde art of the 20th century, modern design and New Building.

The city of St.Gallen was decisively influenced architecturally by Art Nouveau. Due to the flourishing of the embroidery industry, numerous representative buildings were erected around 1900, such as the embroidery business house 'Oceanic' on St.Leonhard-Strasse. The sculptor August Bösch was able to realize his most important work in St.Gallen: the Broderbrunnen in front of the former Multertor. The innovative work of Hans Eduard von Berlepsch-Valendas, designer in Munich, was also noted in his hometown of St.Gallen. Martha Cunz also always remained connected to St.Gallen. The artist lived and worked in Munich for many years and became internationally known with her Japaneseizing woodblock prints.


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.