#GoldenAge | Valentina Expressions

Exploring the Beauty of Liberty Style

Modern or antique buildings? Historical, patrician or utilitarian buildings? This is my dilemma when faced with so many styles of buildings. I must say, however, that one of the styles I can immediately eliminate is the wildly modern one, squared, with sharp angles, without any particular interesting lines and a lot of glass walls.

It seems to me that in large cities, the beautiful buildings erected in times gone by have remained to be admired and be part of the historical landscape, but in the suburbs, I have the impression that architects tend much more towards the modern style. Buildings of Art Déco, Art Nouveau and Liberty style today decorate many downtown areas of American cities as a testimony of a grand past, still at the same time, modern buildings stand side by side asking for the same attention.

(Click on each photo to see it larger)

Villa Scott by Pietro Fenoglio – Author Emanuela Meme Giudici – Wikimedia – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

During the last ten years of the 1800s, a beautiful, floral, flowing style that focused on nature’s elements took place. It was Art Nouveau created in Bruxelles by a group of painters, designers and architects who adopted this style for homes, furniture, lamps and even fashion. It soon spread to Paris during the “La Belle Époque” era and across the ocean. In Italy, it was called the Liberty style and in America, it was known as the Tiffany style.

Floral Chair Liberty Style

Art Déco followed soon after and stayed until 1930. It represented the freedom of the industrial age, an era of progress and prosperity. Art Déco used metals, glass and geometric designs in all aspects of life to express a new modernity.

Liberty style fits my character and my upbringing. As a lover of nature and Baroque architecture, I would have loved to live and be surrounded by Liberty-style designs. In Italy, Baroque motifs distinguish this style with curves and free-flowing elements from nature.

If I had to decorate a villa in the Liberty style, wood, marble, glass and wrought iron would not be missed. Mirrors with floral designs on gold frames, table lamps, large chandeliers and wallpaper with exaggerated nature designs would be all the attractions.

Furniture would have abundant curves; sofas and upholstered chairs would be made with rich colored velvets and sturdy leathers.

ShellChair — Shell Chair by Estudio Bola

The floors would alternate with fine herringbone warm-tone woods and decorated ceramics so that the beauty of each material would mark the passage from one room to another.

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, color therapist, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a longtime blogger. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel.
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