Beaux-Arts
noting or pertaining to a style of architecture, popularly associated with the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, that prevailed in France in the late 19th century and that was adopted in the U.S. and elsewhere c1900, characterized by the free and eclectic use and adaptation of French architectural features of the 16th through 18th centuries combined so as to give a massive, elaborate, and often ostentatious effect, and also by the use of symmetrical plans preferably allowing vast amounts of interior space.
resembling the architecture, architectural precepts, or teaching methods of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris: often used in a pejorative sense to designate excessive formalism disregarding considerations of structural truth, advanced aesthetic theory, rational planning, or economy.
(lowercase) the fine arts, as painting or music.
Origin of Beaux-Arts
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use Beaux-Arts in a sentence
There could be no better place to honor the art of dressmaking than the most prestigious art school: the Beaux Arts de Paris.
Tilda Swinton and Oliver Saillard Perform the Creation of Fashion in ‘Eternity Dress’ | Sarah Moroz | November 21, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTOutside, on the roof, the clock is flanked by more Beaux Arts touches: statues of Hercules, Mercury, and Minerva.
Drawing had been his first devotion, but he shifts to photography when he enters the Beaux-Arts de Paris.
Must-Reads: 'The Fat Years,' 'Drifting House,' and 'The Map and the Territory' | Isaac Stone Fish, Anna Clark, Cameron Martin | January 30, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTBut the French critic Louis de Fourcaud, writing in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, called it a masterpiece of characterization.
Two weeks ago, journalists were arrested trying to capture shots of the Beaux Arts mansion where the wedding will take place.
My brother, who was an architect, had highly distinguished himself at the cole des Beaux Arts under the teaching of Huyot.
We glued our noses to the window-glass of the art print shops around the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Paris Vistas | Helen Davenport GibbonsExtraordinary bays and alcoves, never before dreamed of by the Ecole des Beaux Arts gave light and shadow to long walls.
When a footman at the Caf des Beaux Arts wrenched the door open and let the cool air in, it was welcome.
What Will People Say? | Rupert HughesThe Palais des Beaux Arts, the home of the cole, was begun in 1820 and finished in 1863.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia | Various
British Dictionary definitions for beaux-arts
/ (bəʊˈzɑː) /
another word for fine art
(modifier) relating to the classical decorative style, esp that of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris: beaux-arts influences
Origin of beaux-arts
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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