The movement known as Rococo began in eighteenth-century France, and has infused design objects with a sinuous, organic, and sensuous impulse for three centuries. Rococo dominated French design from 1730 to 1765, during the reign of Louis XV. Rococo ideas, transmitted by prints, objects and the traveling designers themselves, quickly spread to England, the Netherlands, the German states, Italy and America. Rococo resurfaced in England under the flamboyant George IV and in France during the Second Empire. Its most significant revival occurred in the design concept known as Art Nouveau. In the twenty-first century, the Rococo spirit has burst forth once again as a creative force. Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730-2008, featuring essays by international scholars and over 380 color illustrations, traces the movement within the historic continuum.
