A charming small Art Nouveau three-panel screen or fireplace screen in carved mahogany, decorated with silk embroidery depicting birds. The wooden panels are carved with stylized chestnut leaves and fruit. Each panel is adorned with a bird embroidered on Indian yellow wild silk. The upper section is pierced by six inset beveled glass panes. Each panel is carved in arabesque patterns, in a distinctly Art Nouveau style. The entire screen is foldable and rests on four small, cabriole feet ending in hoof-shaped feet. The central panel is slightly larger than the other two.

This small screen is signed "F. Bernard Nancy" on the central sheet.

Felix Bernard (19th-20th century) was a cabinetmaker from Nancy who worked at 6 rue de la Salpêtrière in Nancy at the end of the 19th century. His work, in the style of Émile Gallé and Louis Majorelle, is classified among the productions known as the "École de Nancy".

Circa: 1900

Condition report: In good overall condition.

Art Nouveau, or the triumph of the curved line

Originating from 19th-century Romantic theories, Art Nouveau was founded on a break with classicism and a reaction against a rapidly industrializing society. Quickly recognized as an international movement, Art Nouveau—called "Tiffany" in the United States, "Arts and Crafts" in England, "Jugenstil" in Germany, and "Stile Liberty" in Italy—established itself in France in the early 1890s. It was Siegfried Bing, a French art dealer, collector, and patron of German origin, who gave the new style the name by which it is known today, opening an art gallery in 1895 which he called "L'Art Nouveau." This new style imposed no rules on artists. The norms of austere academicism were shattered, making Art Nouveau a transgressive art form in which nature, women, and eroticism became essential elements. Artists converge internationally in their use of arabesque, organic, and fluid forms, and in their references to sensuality. In Art Nouveau, ornamentation is an integral part of the structure of the works.