Presents a portrait of the Art Nouveau phenomenon in its variety. This book features different national variations of Art Nouveau in Scotland, England, France, Germany, Austria, the United States and other countries. It offers a comprehensive portrayal of famous individual artists including Louis Comfort Tiffany, Edward Munch, and Rene Lalique.

Artists and their contemporaries explain the significance of the literary and philosophical as well as cultural and political background by means of many theories and writings. The countless permutations of Art Nouveau are woven into a complex and yet distinctive picture of this artistic movement at the turn of the twentieth century.