The new art style became a commercial kind of work, since it was aimed towards the masses and the every day life. The industrial design was dictated by fashion and the public taste, that was rapidly changing as the speed of modern life brought new ideas almost constantly and commercial tools, such as films and advertising, influenced in that change.
The difference between the Arts and Crafts and the Art Nouveau movements was mainly the approach towards the creation itself. While the Art Nouveau was promoting the use of mechanical techniques to create art objects that would be used in common life, the Arts and Crafts movements rejected the machinery in the creative process, concentrating on the value of human talent. What both movements had in common was the inclination towards the socialization of art, and the ideas of including art pieces into the houses of the people as regular part of their lives. The difference on production brought an inevitable difference in price and so, both styles were aimed towards different...
While in Europe this artsy objects where mostly aimed to the high class, in America the democratization of art was better achieved and more accessible to the common people, since the American market was more ready to blend industrial goods and hand-made pieces. In America, this new conception also inspired new art tendencies, such as the development of the advertising design that would bring radical changes in later esthetic taste of the 20th century.
Bibliography
Art Nouveau, available at: http://artchive.com/artchive/art_nouveau.html
Howard, J., 1996, Art Nouveau: international and national styles in Europe, Manchester
Ryan, D., Art Nouveau in Europe, available at http://www.artsmia.org/modernism/e_ANE.html
The Arts and Crafts movement, available at http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/artcraft/artcraft.htm
Triggs, O.L., 1979, Chapters in the history of the Arts and Crafts movement, Arno Press Inc.,
Chicago.
