Georges Fouqet and the Question of Modernity and Beauty

Georges Fouquet (1862 – 1957) was a French jewelry designer best known for his Art Nouveau wonders. This, to me, is the period when jewelry was prettiest. I love ancient golden things that came out of royal tombs, but that is partly because they are ancient and tie me to the dimly known past; in terms of pure aesthetics, I think these are the best.

Fouquet was born in Paris into a family of jewelers, and he joined his father in the family business in 1891. 

In 1900 he opened a new jewelry shop at 6 rue Royale in Paris, designed by the illustrator Alphonse Mucha. The interior of the shop is preserved at the Carnavalet Museum in Paris. 

I love the period around 1900 for numerous reasons. This is the crest of the long European wave that carried the continent to the pinnacle of world power and wealth, before they set about destroying it all. Europe reached new heights in science and almost every other academic pursuit, creating everything from archaeology to microbiology. To me, the art of this era is part of that moment of dominance: supremely confident, boldly innovative but also conntected to tradition. To me, the art of the next 50 years is only what you would expect from an era dominated by world war, bloody revolution, sinister ideologies, and genocide.

And yet, of course, the Europe of 1900 was awful in uncountable ways. Not to pick on them, no past period meets our standards of humanity, and few places in the present do. But by 1990 Europe had done much more for ordinary people's health and well being, freed its colonies, etc. So why did their art get so ugly? People often say that our art is awful because our age is awful; but wasn't 1900 worse, in terms of humanity? If they could create extraordinary beauty in such a casual way, in everything from street lamps to sculpture, is there some chance that we could, as well?

Art Nouveau was a style that was both modern and beautiful; why can't we do that again? Why are our buildings either ghastly or rather tepid recreations of past styles? Why isn't there more that is both new and attractive? Our distinctive creations are things like geometrically pure skyscrapers, horror films, and thrash metal; future archaeologists will know us mainly as the builders of complex freeway interchanges.

When I feel the need to see something beautiful, I almost always look either to the natural world or to the past, and I spend too much time wondering why that has to be so.