Studio: international art (23.1901)

Jewellers Art in France

The chief thing lacking in M. Lalique's'jewellery,
as in that of his imitators, is style. And it is for
this reason that so many people, even those most
devoted to that which is novel, refuse to regard
his productions as other than vain and transitory
things. Certain it is that the composition of some
of M. Lalique's work suggests haste—facile haste ;
this or that detail deserved closer study, demanded
firmer drawing, stronger characterisation. Thus,
while acknowledging fully our indebtedness to
M. Lalique for having renovated and revived the
art of jewel-working, one cannot but regret that
he should too often have been content to make
a direct copy of floral forms when a careful stylisa-
tion would have been far more effective. A natural
flower is decorative of itself, and no jewel however
precious can compare with it on a woman's breast
or in her hair. Here, as elsewhere in art, trans-
position is necessary, and M. Lalique seems to
forget this too frequently.

COMB IN IVORY, OPALS AND ENAMELS BY M. VEVER
3°

COMB IN TRANSLUCENT ENAMELS BY M. VEVER

In any case, M. Lalique deserves to hold the
first place in the new movement; and although he
has given birth to numerous inferior imitators, yet
future generations will rejoice in the renovating
influence he has had on the jeweller's art.

A jeweller like M. Vever, indeed, has his own
conception of the modern jewel. He cares far
more than M. Lalique for the bijou de parure than
for the bijou de vitrine—the shop jewellery ! M.
Vever is, so to speak, more moderate, less
audacious in his "modernism" than M. Lalique;
but at the same time he is less artistic, less
imaginative, and, to put it bluntly, more bourgeois.

The success of M. Vever is, to a large extent,
due to the collaboration of M. Eugene Grasset; for
the jewellery they have produced together is worthy
to rank among the best and the most original of
its kind produced of recent years.

Among the other jewellers deserving of mention