Lalique
René Lalique, born in 1860, in Ay, France, began his career, at the age of
sixteen as an apprentice to the famous Parisian jeweler: Louis Aucoc. By the
time he reached 21 he had already started creating his own, unique style of
jewelry and continued doing so when he opened his first workshop just four years
later. His style was considered risqué by nineteenth century French society, due
to his combining of the flowing curves of nature;
everything from plants to the human form. He also mixed semi-precious stones
with other media in his work.
By the turn of the 20th century, having reached the top of his craft, Lalique
switched his
focus to glass. He had already utilized glass in his jewelry, and so was no
stranger to working with it. And so, in 1907, he opened a shop and began making
perfume bottles for Coty. A short time later, he was engaged by many of the
French perfumeries to do the same for them. During this period of his life, in
all, he created well over two hundred different styles of perfume bottle.
But his focus was now to bring his art to the people; mass production was the
way forward. He started churning out stemware, inkwells, tableware, chandeliers,
clocks, and vases with a workforce of around 600.
In the 1920’s he made glass mascots, or hood ornaments, for the automobile
industry, that were illuminated by the inclusion of a small light bulb. These
were fitted by some of the day’s prestige marques.
But it’s the vases that he created that probably best sum up Lalique’s
contribution to the early twentieth century’s art nouveau movement. Using the
same curves and lines that he borrowed from nature in his jewelry and combining
them with beautiful, deeply colored glass, he created some of the most stunning
masterpieces of glasswork.
|
