For years, I had been seeing glass work by Rene Lalique in museums, often as a sidelight to some of the many glass artists who considered him an important influence, but I never had a broad picture of his work and his role.
In part, that could be because his work spanned such a long period that you can’t look at a piece and place easily, as you often can with Tiffany or Lafarge. Lalique was at work when Art Nouveau came in, and still working at the end of the main Art Deco period.
And, until an exhibit I saw last summer at Tacoma, Washington’s Glass Museum, I hadn’t realized how big his role was in developing new methods and materials in glass work. Congratulations to DrFumblefinger, who recognized the image below as our One-Clue Mystery this week!
Two by Lalique at back, and two by more recent followers in front.
Lalique was born in 1860, and by his early teens was attending an art school; at 14 he was sent to the School of Decorative Arts in Paris, then spent two years at a British art school, and then became an apprentice goldsmith in Paris, while continuing to study graphic design. At 18, he returned to France and became a free-lance designer for Cartier, Boucheron and others.
Not Lalique, but possible using methods and materials he introduced
After 1885, he operated his own studio while continuing to design pieces on commission for others as well as making his own jewelry and glass pieces, the work for which he’s best known, frequently incorporating metal and other material in glass, following his other skills.
Aside from the separate pieces we see in museums, he also designed glass walls and columns for the French ocean liner Normandie. In the 1920s, he turned his style from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, and the Normandie work was in that style.
But Lalique had an interest in making glass art more accessible to a wider public than the wealthy who commissioned pieces. He also designed more mundane items: Lighting, hood ornaments for cars, perfume bottles that added art to the contents, and more. His work included finding ways to mass produce artistic glass that were widely adopted, especially in packaging.
The Tacoma exhibit isn’t huge; it comes mainly from a single collection. Nonetheless, it’s a fair representation of pieces from across his spectrum, and left me with a deeper appreciation for his work.
Among Lalique’s innovative techniques: The body of the vase is molded glass, to which he then applied an enamel composed mainly of ground glass, which was then wiped away, leaving traces in the crevices and lines. Firing in a kiln then fused it to the original piece.
