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 ? )

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

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