Arthur Lasenby Liberty
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Arthur Lasenby Liberty (August 13, 1843–May 11, 1917) was born in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England.
In 1875, he opened a shop, Liberty & Co. in Regent Street, London — selling ornaments, fabrics and miscellaneous art objects from Japan and the Far East.
Liberty & Co. first catered for an eclectic mixture of popular styles, but then went on to develop a fundamentally different style closely linked to the aesthetic movement of the 1890s and the "new art" (Art Nouveau). The company become synonymous with this new style to the extent that in Italy, Art Nouveau became known as Stile Liberty after the London shop.
References
Levy, Mervyn (1986) Liberty Style, The Classic Years, 1898-1910; Rizzoli, New York.
External links
- Arthur Lasenby Liberty and the Evolution of the Liberty Style (http://www.victorianweb.org/art/design/liberty/lstyle.html)
- History of Liberty & Co. (http://www.liberty.co.uk/store_info/history.asp)