Art Nouveau is an ornamental style of art that flourished from 1890 to 1910 throughout Europe and the United States. The term Art Nouveau (in Germany also called Jugendstil "Youth Style") was coined by a gallery in Paris that exhibited much of this work. Popular collectible Art Nouveau items include works by Tiffany, Galle and Lalique to name a few..
At that time this new art style had gained popularity by the Westerwald beer stein collectors and most of the stein makers (especially Marzi & Remy, S. P. Gerz and Merkelbach) found it profitible to invest in art designers to create their own special Jugendstil beer steins, classical Jugendstil designers like R. Riemerschmidt, L. Capeller, A. Müller and Paul Wynand became very popular and sucessful.
This period was though short lived and around 1910, the national political and economic turmoil threw the stein and stoneware industry into a tremendous slowdown. With the subsequent outbreak of World War I, the materials and labor needed by the pewter industry were also converted to the use of the fast growing munition production.

Jugendstil Beer Steins are still in production -  please click here to visit Stein-Man Beer Stein Webshop for more details ....

Above and below are various examples of Westerwald "Art Nouveau" Beer Steins:

 

Fig.1 The cobalt beauty of a Thewalt stein.
Fig.2 Another typical example from Wick-Werk.
Fig.3 Shows a salt glazed Stein from W. Merkelbach.
Fig.4 Cleanly designed Cobalt Grey stein from Thewalt.
Fig.5 Albin Müller design on a stein from Merkelbach Manufaktur.
Fig.6 Beautiful design from Dümler & Breiden.
Fig.7 & Fig.8 Examples from Marzi & Remy.
Fig.9 R. Riemerschmidt design from Merkelbach Manufaktur.

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Art Nouveau ("Youth Style") Beer Steins 

Natural Forms and Structures on Early German 20th Century Beer Steins

early 20th centuryE

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Fig.10 Albin Müller design around 1910 (Marzi & Remy).
Fig.11 & Fig.12 Marzi & Remy designs around 1900.
Fig.13 & Fig.14 Marzi & Remy steins from around 1910.
Fig.15 Albin Müller design on a stein from around 1910 (Marzi & Remy).
Fig.16 Merkelbach stein designed by Paul Wynand.
Fig.17 Marzi & Remy 1910 design from Albin Müller.
Fig.18 Merkelbach Grenzhausen.
Fig.19 Albin Müller design from around 1900 (Marzi & Remy).

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