beaux arts
Gilded Age architecture
Beaux arts refers to the fine arts, especially architecture and decorative design in the ornate classical style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The style features symmetry, elaborate ornamentation, and grand scale: beaux arts architecture, a beaux arts train station.
Many American civic buildings from this era reflect beaux arts influence.
Deceptive outward appearance
- corniceOrnamental upper trim
- balustradeRail supported by posts
- pilasterShallow wall-mounted column
- friezeOrnamental architectural band
pediment · column · entablature · portico · colonnade · dome · architrave · masonry
France's chief city
- SalonLeft-leaning online publication
- 19th centuryThe eighteen hundreds
- NeoclassicismRevival of ancient aesthetics
- HaussmannNapoleon III's urban planner
Second Empire · Garnier · Gilded Age · train stations · museums · libraries · courthouses
Purified or cultured
- elegantGracefully refined, tasteful
- grandiosePretentiously impressive in scale
- majesticImpressively dignified and beautiful
- imposingImpressively grand in scale
stately · formal · symmetrical · axial · hierarchical · monumental · palatial · ceremonial
Overlaid with gold leaf
- embellishedDecorated or exaggerated
- ornateElaborately decorated
- decorativeServing to beautify
- filigreeDelicate twisted-wire ornamentation
sculptural · medallion · garland · festoon · acanthus · rosette · swag · molding
facade
Deceptive outward appearance
- corniceOrnamental upper trim
- balustradeRail supported by posts
- pilasterShallow wall-mounted column
frieze · pediment · column · entablature · portico · colonnade · dome · architrave · masonry · quoin
Paris
France's chief city
- SalonLeft-leaning online publication
- 19th centuryThe eighteen hundreds
- NeoclassicismRevival of ancient aesthetics
Haussmann · Second Empire · Garnier · Gilded Age · train stations · museums · libraries · courthouses
refined
Purified or cultured
- elegantGracefully refined, tasteful
- grandiosePretentiously impressive in scale
- majesticImpressively dignified and beautiful
imposing · stately · formal · symmetrical · axial · hierarchical · monumental · palatial · ceremonial · classical
gilded
Overlaid with gold leaf
- embellishedDecorated or exaggerated
- ornateElaborately decorated
- decorativeServing to beautify
filigree · sculptural · medallion · garland · festoon · acanthus · rosette · swag · molding · relief
- design stylesBauhaus, minimalism, Minimalism, minimalist, minimalist design
beaux artsminimalism
Aesthetic of reduction
minimalist · brutalism · modernism · International Style · functionalism
beaux artsminimalist
One favoring bare essentials
austere · stark · unadorned · stripped-down · spartan
beaux artsausterity
Enforced economic stringency
plainness · simplicity · unadorned · spartan · form follows function
beau, beaux, art, arts, arty, artsy, artist, artistic, artistry