Art Nouveau is more than just a style.
Translated from French to English it means New Art - but it is more than just that..

In fact that is what the Art Nouveau movement was all about.
Unlike some styles, Art nouveau incorporated glass,silver,stained glass,posters,furniture,jewellery,Art,Metalwork,Pottery ,bronze and other sculpture and textiles.All artistic forms were influenced (although some discarded the movement as unworthy ! Strangely enough their work is usually unrecognised today .)

It was more a way of thinking and designing than slavish copies of a common theme.
Naturalistic themes were common but even these were transformed into dream-like pieces with an air of fantasy and other-worldliness.
Some of the motive forces behind the movement were the leaders in their fields.
Alphonse Mucha for his Art and Posters, Klimt for his gorgeously rich
works of Art, Rene Lalique for his fantastical jewelry and exquisite glassware. (I just LOVE his Dragonflies - perhaps because I have them in my garden !)
All of these are now household names and highly collectable.
Potters joined in with amazing designs as did silversmiths with curved and flowing jewelry.

Rings,Necklaces and bracelets in Art Nouveau designs became the highly desired pieces of jewelry that any fashionable lady of the turn of the 19h Century needed to own to stay in fashion.
Actresses and Royalty took up the style and this filtered down to almost every European and American woman.
Sarah Bernhardt alone was a huge influence by advising Lalique to produce his fantasy designs in Jewelry.
The main difference was exactly that the designs were SO very different - very strange - unearthly in fact.
By picking up hints of fairyland,mermaid,niads or nymphs were incorporated into a fantasyworld unequalled even today..
Before all of theses fields were very traditional and mainly unchanged for many years before.

It was the genius of these designers that altered the perception that everyday objects and Jewels did not have to be exactly as nature designed them or indeed as they are viewed in the real world
The movement was widely copied and altered so that similar changes took place in the countries of Germany,Austria and America where artists adapted art nouveau designs to mesh in with ther own work.
Jugendstihl in Germay brought forth art nouveau fantastical pottery and the movement made huge inroads into jewellery design with companies like Liberty in England and numerous french silversmiths working hard to catch up with the demand from excited customers.

Without the Art Nouveau movement we would have lost many delights in what we term as the real world !.
(But which IS the real world ? )

Wine and Famous Artists
Lucian Freud has just deigned a new wine label for
Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2006.
While the wine is obviously superb, the label by Freud
adds an exotic upmarket touch.
It is of course a Family Tradition in the Rothschild Family.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild commissioned Jean Carlu to design a label in 1924 for the first vintage
bottled entirely at the Chateau.
He also commissioned a label with V for Victory at the end of World War II
Other labels by Marc Chagall,Francis Bacon ,Andy Warhol and Wassily Kandinsky also grace his wine Labels.
It is delightful to see fine art in conjection with the finest of wines.
Also it is rather interesting that many other vineyards have now adopted the similar system of ungrading their wine labels with collectable Art.(not that any Chateau Rothschild wine even remotely needed upgrading of course !)

Among the other famous Artists who have designed WIne Labels are :
Picasso,
Dali,
Haring,
Balthus,
Georges Braque,
George Baselitz,

I have even seen wine Labels featuring paintings by the Great Masters of the Past including Leonardo da Vinci
But which glass to use to drink them from ?
I tend to favour Baccarat myself ...

There is a rather jolly website offering to produce your very own wine labels (with wine of course !)
and I quite fancy designing my own labels for some of my friends.
Thats at : http://www.stoneycreekwinepress.com/

Here is another article about Artists and Wine Labels:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=aIw2ZclFW50k&refer=home
I forgot to mention that many famous artists (including myself of course) (well famous for 12 miles in any direction !)- prefer to be paid in wine - a pretty good deal for those chosen to design for Chateau Rothschild I think !

This Video shows the Neptune Jar by Daum (including the signature)
Recognising real Daum Signatures is really important when considering buying glass - especially expensive glass.
On this particular Jar the two pieces of damage to the handle would seriously lessen the value of the piece.

Voici quelques bouts sur le verre de achat à un marché ou à un magasin antique.
1 - Lisez tous au sujet de l'article exact que vous pensez à l'achat. Soigneusement note
2 en bas des mesures - pourquoi ? Vous avez besoin des mesures parce qu'assez une pratique commune est d'avoir des morceaux ou raye rectifié au loin professionnellement.
Ceci se produit habituellement sur le verre cher seulement car il est coûteux pour faire faire ceci.
S'il y a des morceaux ou les éraflures ou même un morceau frappé outre du bord du dessus ou le fond du verre quand il est rectifié en bas de ceci seront exactes autour du morceau et il sera plus court (si l'entaille est au dessus du verre) ou plus étroit (s'il est sur la base).
Ceci signifie que les dimensions auront changé de l'original. Il peut également y avoir un certain givrage autour de la jante (si elle n'est pas faite carefuly) que ceci réduit rigoureusement la valeur du morceau.
Vérifiez le modèle - une manière commune d'enlever une éraflure est de graver un secteur givré au-dessus de elle. Ce qui DEVRAIT le regard de morceau comme - consultez l'Internet pour des photos de ce que vous recherchez - particulièrement sur un grand marché d'antiquités comme ceux dans la route de Lille, de Paris ou de Londres Portobello
où vous verrez beaucoup de copies des morceaux en verre rares.

3 inspectent soigneusement pour déceler les éraflures ou d'autres marques. Regard

4 soigneusement à la signature. Les signatures ne sont pas une chose facile à vérifier. Quelques vitriers ont signé tout leur travail.
D'autres ont eu la personne faire réellement le signe de morceau pour eux. Chaque vitrier a eu différentes manières de signer des morceaux.
Pantin par exemple n'a signé ou n'a pas marqué rien tandis que Lalique avait beaucoup de signatures et d'inscriptions.
Vous devriez avoir connaissance vers le haut de de votre vitrier préféré avant que vous achetiez.
5 articles truqués incluent souvent les signatures fausses aussi. Les articles truqués tchèques et roumains souvent prennent la sortie facile et ont sablé des signatures.

Les copies de la Roumanie ont souvent le bout de mot gravé bord à bord la signature copiée. Ceci est souvent enlevé avec un foret dentaire ou de métier par les magasins sans scrupules mais les feuilles par secteur blanc qui si vous étudiez il n'est pas soigneusement tout à fait exact.

Ceci se produit souvent avec les lampes chères de reproduction de Daum et d'autres principaux fabricants

Apology:
We apologise for our poor French translation.

Although this is not actually French Glass the Frost Fair Glass is currently on exhibition at the V& A Museum in London
This glass is actually a souvenir from 1683 which was sold from one of the booths that were set up on the River Thames itself
when it froze solid during the exceptionally cold winter of 1683.
There was actually a medieval Fun Fair on the ice with all kinds of fun and entertainments
(including some that I disapprove of like bear-baiting)
Altogether it must have looked like a scene from Breughel
The booths sold drinks ,food and toys and it was a famous attraction until the river melted.
This is a fascinating piece of Glass History and I urge you to visit the V&A to see it.
Here is one of Breughels pictures of winter:

Part of the new range of Lalique figurines are Dragons.

These beautiful Oriental inspired dragons would make a great addition to any Lalique or French Glass collection

Although Dragons were originally from the Far East, these Oriental beauties seem quite happy here.

I have no connection with the following company but thought it might  help you with any chipped or broken pieces.

Recently in France at an antiques market I saw several lovely Lalique figurines that I passed by as I thought they were too badly chipped... so I left them there (and no I won't tell you where it was   I'm going back soon ..<grin !>

I was browsing the web today and came across this company:
http://www.brueningglass.com

One of the services they offer is to repair chipped lalique and other glass.
They also do repairs to:
Barometers
Broken Decanters
Chandeliers
Chipped Glass
Chipped Stemware
Lalique and other fine Glass
Glass Glueing
Panel Lamp Repairs.

They have some very impressive before and after repair photos on their website and its worth bookmarking this page to fix anything you may get broken (by next doors cat of course !)

They sound interesting - if you have had any glass repairs done by this company then a review here would be nice... if you have a moment.

Rene Lalique

One of the Founders of two great Periods -
Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Two Revolutions in Art and Design that brought forth highly successful artists and sculptors to the delight of the world.

Rene was the foremost Jeweller and Glassmaker of both Periods.
Lalique Glass is highly collectible.
It includes Bowls,Vases,Figurines,Perfume Bottles and trinkets.

His necklaces are some of the most collectible jewellery on Earth.

When we think of Art Nouveau Jewellery or Art Nouveau Glass the first name that comes to mind is Rene Lalique Jewelery.

Although Lalique was primarily a Glass Designer he was equally known for his beautiful Jewels.

He began as a jeweller and developed into glassmaking.

He is particularly renowned for his designs of Lalique Crystal Vases,Chandeliers,perfume bottles and art nouveau jewellery.

Rene was born in Ay in Marne,France in 1860, throughout his childhood he loved nature and in his early teens he began to paint and the flowing forms of nature.

At the College Turgot. Rene Studied Drawing and Design and used his love of nature to develop a unique style of his own.

Renes mother realised how much he loved painting and design and apprenticed him to Louis Aucoc a Jeweller in Paris.

Rene was always a hard worker and a good student eager to learn.

At the same time He also studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in the evenings and later subsequently studied at Sydenham College in London England at a very fortunate time.

In England it was the time of the birth of the Arts and Crafts movement and Lalique would have been very interested in their designs .

During his holidays back in Ay he drew sketches of nature and wildlife and this influenced his work throughout his life.

England was the the very centre of the Arts and Crafts movement and he was inspired not only by the artists of that movement but also by what he saw at the Crystal Palace Exhibition.

In 1880 he returned to Paris where he studied Jewellery manufacturing and then sculpture under Justin Lequien at the Ecole Bernard Palissy.

This time influenced his later work as much of Palissy Pottery was relief decorated and had realistically modelled fish,lizards,snakes and plants.

From this background of Art and Design, he evolved flowing and often erotic designs and the influence of Palissy is shown in his vases such as the Sauterelles and Martin Pecheurs designs .

His most famous single work of the time is probably the Perruches bowl from the 1920s which had a frieze of beautiful moulded parakeets on Opalescent Glass.
Lalique Crystal has become synonymous with high quality figurines and vases.

In later years he became famous not only for art nouveau Glass but also for Art Nouveau Jewellery.

One of the most famous of the pieces of that time is the Bacchantes Bowl which is still in production today.

He has also been called the Art nouveau Glassmeister. He was truly the master of Art Nouveau and Art Deco Glass and Jewellery.
Here are a few Lalique Links from our store :

The Bacchantes Vase - A veritable Frenzy of Passion
http://www.greatfrenchglass.com/lalique/bacchantes-vase

Lalique Big Cats - stunning sinuous big cats by Lalique
http://www.greatfrenchglass.com/lalique/Lalique-bigcats

Lalique Perfume Bottles -Coty are the most collectible ones.
http://www.greatfrenchglass.com/lalique/lalique-perfume

Lalique Dragonflies - wonderful observation

http://www.greatfrenchglass.com/lalique/lalique-dragonfly

(C) 2008 Keith Jones www.greatfrenchglass.com

A Similar Article about Rene Lalique also appears on our other French Glass site at :
http://www.laliqueartnouveau.com

Meisenthal Glassworks

Meiesenthal is an Historic Glassmaking Village where Emile Galle studied and worked.
The Meisenthal Glassworks was founded in 1704 and is a historical site in the region of Lorraine.

It was a major part of the birth of the Art Nouveau Movement in Glass with the works of art in glass produced by Emile Galle between 1867 and 1894.

Sadly the Glassworks of Meisenthal closed its doors in 1969.

The factory faced an uncertain future despite the expert knowledge retained by its workers.

The site rapidly began to look abandoned .
This was a similar fate to the factories of other Glassworks of the region.Already the factory of Montbronn had closed in 1957,

Cristallerie Lorraine de Lemberg in 1997,Cristallerie de Harttzviller in 2004 anhen the optical glassmakers Goetzenbruck in 2005.

Now though the larger Glass Makers are beginning to fight back with Lalique and Cristalleries de St Louis producing original designs for the worldwide market.

In 1978 an exhibition was held in Meisenthal with the copoperation of a number of Historians and experts in Glass together with the friends of the Museum of Glass.

A Centre for Research into glassmaking was founded with the co-operation 0f the Townsfolk of Meisenthal and the seven villages nearby in the glassmaking area.

The Centre CIAV International Centre of Art Glass of Meisenthal) was founded in the old Glassworks of the Glassworks of Meisenthal.

Apart from displays of Glassmaking techniques, there is a historical research department and of the foremost glassware produced at Meisenthal.

There is of course a large display of Art Nouveau Glass.

The C.I.A.V. has an interesting website with information and lots of interesting videos.

It is in French and well displayed and worth visiting for any Glass Collector.

The website is at http://www.ciav-meisenthal.fr/site.html

The website does require you to have FLASH installed and its a very glitzy interactive website with quite a lot more information than it would appear on the surface.
The videos are very interesting but some are aimed at the French market and require payment by Telecharger (a sort of payment by phone popular in France)

There were details of a Brocante (a kind of fleamarket come antiques Fair) in the streets of Meisenthal (this was in July 2008.)

Brocantes are excellent sources of original French Art Nouveau and Art Deco glassware. A Magazine call Aladdin in France lists the more regular Brocantes to visit. Get there early for bargains !

I hope this will be an annual event as it looks well worth visiting.

It would certainly be necessary to visit the tourism links before visiting to ascertain opening hours and local resources like antique markets.

There were very interesting Links -

http://www.cc-verre-cristal.fr/

http://www.halle-verriere.fr/

http://www.ot-paysdebitche.com

http://www.parc-vosges-nord.fr/

email address : mailto:ciav@wanadoo.fr

Tourism Links :

http://www.moselle-tourisme.com

http://www.tourisme-lorraine.fr/

Modern Paperweights

These are often made by artisans working on their own rather than for a glass factory.
They are often of very high quality especially by those glass makers making limited editions.
Paul Stankard is famous for his paperweights with beautifully realistic flowers.

Other Famous Paperweight makers of the 20th Century are :
Lundberg Studios
Correia Art Glass
Orient and Flume
Loton
Parablle Glass
Charles Kazuin
Paul Ysart
William Manson
Peter McDougall
Peter Holmes
John Deacons
Jim DOnofrio
Chris Buzzini
Delmo Tarsitano
Debby Tarsitano
Victor Trabucco
Gordon Smith
Rick Ayotte
Melissa Dayotte
Bob Banford
Ray Banford

There are many new High Quality glassmakers producing original and lovely paperweights right up to the present day.
Some glassmakers produce an everyday range and a more intricate range of Collector grade paperweights.