EMILE GALLÉ. A Marquetry Glass "Crocus" Vase, circa 1900. Etched on the body: GALLÉ. Paper label: Cristallerie D'Art /...

Description

EMILE GALLÉ
A Marquetry Glass "Crocus" Vase, circa 1900
Etched on the body: GALLÉ
Paper label: Cristallerie D'Art / Emile GALLÉ / Nancy Paris
8-5/8 inches (21.9 cm) high


More Information:

Born in Nancy, France, in 1846, Emile Gallé is considered one of the most outstanding glass artists of his time, as he greatly contributed to the development of the art of glassmaking and to the Art Nouveau Style. He traveled in Paris, London, and Weimar after his training, which included art, botany, and chemistry, and began producing fine pottery, furniture and jewelry. In 1873 he set up his own glass studio and a year later he took over his father's glass and ceramics factory in Nancy. At the 1878 International Exhibition in Paris he was inspired by the glass works of some of his contemporaries. At the Paris International Exhibition in 1889, he presented his own new types of glass, including carved cameo and pate de verre work, new shapes of vases and extraordinary new colors. In 1901, he founded "L'Ecole de Nancy".  Throughout the 1890s in his "Cristallerie d'Emile Gallé", he created abundant new glassworks and therefore employed a team of craftsmen-designers, who worked on his designs and applied his signature after his approval. In those years, he also exhibited his Art Nouveau works with great success, thus winning international awards, recognition through commissions and increased popular demand. After his death in 1904, his widow continued to run the glassworks until the outbreak of war in 1914, all the glass sold being marked with a star after his signature. The Gallé glassware, mainly made by acid etching on two and three layer cameo glass with landscape and floral designs, continued to be made until 1935, when the firm closed down.

In the Spring of 1898, Emile Gallé patented the technique of glass marquetry. This process involved the incorporation of glass fragments of various thickness, shapes and colors into the still malleable, glass mass. This, combined with a multi-layering technique, equipped glass artists with an unlimited palette; besides the vast array of colors which could now be introduced into a decorative composition, each color could also undergo subtle variations depending on where the colored fragments lay in relation to the surface. Another advantage of the technique was that it facilitated the use of intricate and precise patterns as the colored glass fragments could be cut to a chosen shape or engraved beforehand, according to the specifications of the master glazier.

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