In 1896, a unique art gallery was opened in Province Street, Paris, by a dealer named Samuel Bing. The gallery, called "L'art nouveau," showed glass pieces by Emile Gallé and Tiffany, paintings by Aubrey Beardsley, and art furniture by Mackintosh. Around the same time, leading French architect Hector Guimard was just perfecting a unique style. Guimard designed the entrance to the new Parisian transportation system opened in 1900, the Metro. Curving lines reminiscent of organic plant forms constituted the main theme to the wrought-iron decorations, and this unique signature became known as the symbol for Art Nouveau, or the New Art. Paris in 1900 during the World Expo embraced a unison flourishing of Art Nouveau style designs all around the city, enough to engulf the town. Flowerbud-shaped streetlights and HugÅne Grasset's posters with beauties priding long twining hair like vines smiled upon Parisians passing by. In Expo pavilions in Place des Invalides, you would find seven rooms exhibiting Art Nouveau furniture, wallpaper, carpets, and lamps, all sponsored by art dealer Bing. Art Nouveau curves were lighthearted and graceful compared to the heaviness of the preceding Empire style. The new Parisian style soon sparked to neighboring countries, forming Jugendstil in Germany and Modern Style in Britain. Crafts and architecture began incorporating the curve into designs as a motif in the people's daily life. Gaudi, the Spaniard from Barcelona, was one who was influenced by Art Nouveau, and curves in designs of Maxim's, the classic restaurant operating to this day, are reminiscent of the times. Only later, mechanical lines and circles in Art Deco designs were to emerge as a reaction to this age of natural curves.