In your examples, the art dealer’s site has a wonky menu system that I found distracting. Failed function, poor overall design. The more complex community site felt very intuitive. Both have the je n’ai sais que ‘ambience’, form (and oodles of it!)

nice examples.

More on topic, I see creative and relatively sophisticated designers making aesthetically pleasing web layouts for high end clients regularly which don’t really represent the client other than to tell me they are expensive. Often, neither party has much depth of knowledge of design or art history. It always surprises me to hear the ‘old’ classified as completely different from and irrelevant to the ‘new’. Colors and shapes will always evoke subliminal references, so I’d think that the more you understand about those references the more skilled (rather than creative or artistic) you can become.

Here are a couple of home pages, the first for an individual collector/dealer and the second more community oriented which immediately and accurately reflect the site content for me.
http://www.philippedenys.com/
http://www.designaddict.com/
There are no major visual distractions there, but it is also obvious that an educated designer understood the content. Most people won’t consider that consciously, but they’ll still respond to it. I believe that this is important from a business point of view as well. If my first impression makes me doubt that I’ll find what I seek therein, I’m much more likely to back right out immediately. I agree that distracting me with something artistic is not a good idea, but imo you’re still conveying a (hopefully coherent) first impression, no different than you do personally when you consider how to dress for a first meeting.

Less ‘design’ oriented web examples are Technorati and del.icio.us, two of many sites offering similar services. The visual impressions there are consistent enough with the service/brand.

Vera

If you are trying to invoke an emmotion or thought process from your ui then it crosses the line from interface to content. And (Josh will roll his eyes I’m sure) you also cross the line from design to creativity.

Bauhaus is a movement that is comparable in terms of epitomizing the zeitgeist of its day, but a more interesting study might be French (not American) Art Deco. The Egyptian influences are pretty obvious and well recognized, but look at the African influences in the furniture designs of Jules Leleu, for example, or the exotic island images contributed to that period by Gaugin. For early 20th c graphic design specifically, check out programs and posters for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

My observation is that the design zeitgeist of a particular time seems to find its greatest power of expression when connected across a full range of societal mediums.

I do recognize web design as being very different by the constraints and important demands of usability, but am also personally frustrated by having to search hard to find powerfully beautiful visuals in a visual medium.

Vera