Georg Hirth (1841-1916) launched the journal Jugend [Youth] in Munich in 1896 with the express goal of showcasing the newest trends in art and literature. Jugend was to be an “ecumenical” forum for creative expression, promoting no single school or artistic agenda. Nevertheless, the journal became so closely associated with a specific style of painting, drawing, and design – one characterized by precise lines, undulating shapes, flat planes of color, and stylized representation – that it eventually lent its name to that style: Jugendstil (literally, Youth-style). Jugendstil (or Art Nouveau in French) swept aside nineteenth-century historicism and made room for freer forms of artistic expression. The journal was known for its illustrations as well as its critical and satirical texts. It counted prominent writers, such as Georg Simmel, among its many contributors. Jugend was published up to 1940, but its heyday ended with the First World War.