"Late in the 19th century artists and designers were searching for an alternative to the ponderous Victorian style which then predominated. William Morris with his Arts and Crafts Movement was the first to strike out on his own, and he was followed by three mildly dissimilar men who were to have a strong influence on the whole of European art: the Scottish architect-designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the English artist Aubrey Beardsley, and the eccentric Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. The new style was based on graceful plant-forms, and the distinctive sinuous shapes appeared everywhere, from the entrances of the Paris Metro to the strangely elegant glass and furniture. The delicacy of the lines gives a feminine air to most Art Nouveau design, a feeling echoed by such artists as Mucha, Maillol and Klimt, who often portrayed women. The essence of the style is shown in the superb illustrations while Renató Barilli's text tells the absorbing story of the most distinctive and the most cosmopolitan of movements in modern art"--Front flap of original dust jacket.