Alastair Duncan, a recognized expert on the period, tells the story of the meteoric rise and fall of Art Nouveau, which began as a general reaction by young artists and designers to the stifling traditionalism and revivalism of the mid-nineteenth-century fine and decorative arts. The "new art" first made itself felt around 1895, in architecture, furniture, glass, ceramics and the other applied arts, and fell into eclipse after World War One, until its rediscovery in the 1960s.

The author recounts the history of this important modern movement in detail, introducing the main personalities - Galle, Lalique, Tiffany and others - and relating their aims and accomplishments to the background from which the movement emerged.