DOI Heft:
Nr. 120 (March 1903)
DOI Artikel:Frantz, Henri: Emile Gallé and the decorative artists of Nancy
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19878#0122
Emile Galle
inaugurated, the new movement, and who deserves whilst working them into beautiful original designs,
special recognition as much for the encouragement stamped with the impress of his own imaginative
given to others as for the actual work done by him- genius. Never is he happier, however, than when
self, is Emile Galle. Although he is devotedly he takes for his motive the flora of Lorraine, work-
attached to his native town, profoundly interested ing into his scheme of decoration the exquisite
in all that concerns her art development, and before forms and colours of water-lilies, marsh-trefoils,
all things a true son of Lorraine, he may also be forget-me-nots, poppies, and other wild flowers of
said to take very high rank amongst the French the lowlands and forests of his beloved native
artists of the day, and to be one of those who has land.
striven most energetically in the cause of industrial To do full justice to Emile Galle in every branch
art in France ; and it is in a great measure due to of his art activity would require a volume, and we
his influence and unwearying devotion that we will confine our attention at present to his work as
have had the gratification of witnessing, during the a designer of glass. In that direction, as in every
last ten years, in spite of all hesitation and uncer- other, he is really reviving and transforming an old
tainty, a real renaissance of the minor arts on our local tradition. In 1448, in fact, an edict was issued
side of the Channel. by the king of Anjou authorising the opening of
iWhat strikes us first 01 all in examining the four glass manufactories in Lorraine. By 1568
work of the celebrated artist of Nancy, is his great pretty well every village of the province had its own
versatility, as proved by
the variety of his exhibits
in the cosmopolitan shows
of 1889 and 1900, not
to speak of those at the
exhibitions of the Societe
Nationale. Who can fail
to remember the fur-
niture designed by him
with the refinement of style
and delicacy of execution
bequeathed by the time
of Louis XV. to the artists
of Lorraine, combined
with the originality and
feeling for Nature in every
form, so thoroughly char-
acteristic of the decorative
designs of its author!
Very specially should be
noted the wonderful
specimens of marquetery
work preserved in the
Luxembourg and in the
Galliera Museum, which
latter, thanks to the intelli-
gent initiative of M. For-
mentin, has become a posi-
tive sanctuary of modern
French decorative art.
In these specimens we are
struck, in the first place,
with the skill with which
M. Galle has turned to
account the various natural
colours of the wood, vase by emile gai.i.f.
inaugurated, the new movement, and who deserves whilst working them into beautiful original designs,
special recognition as much for the encouragement stamped with the impress of his own imaginative
given to others as for the actual work done by him- genius. Never is he happier, however, than when
self, is Emile Galle. Although he is devotedly he takes for his motive the flora of Lorraine, work-
attached to his native town, profoundly interested ing into his scheme of decoration the exquisite
in all that concerns her art development, and before forms and colours of water-lilies, marsh-trefoils,
all things a true son of Lorraine, he may also be forget-me-nots, poppies, and other wild flowers of
said to take very high rank amongst the French the lowlands and forests of his beloved native
artists of the day, and to be one of those who has land.
striven most energetically in the cause of industrial To do full justice to Emile Galle in every branch
art in France ; and it is in a great measure due to of his art activity would require a volume, and we
his influence and unwearying devotion that we will confine our attention at present to his work as
have had the gratification of witnessing, during the a designer of glass. In that direction, as in every
last ten years, in spite of all hesitation and uncer- other, he is really reviving and transforming an old
tainty, a real renaissance of the minor arts on our local tradition. In 1448, in fact, an edict was issued
side of the Channel. by the king of Anjou authorising the opening of
iWhat strikes us first 01 all in examining the four glass manufactories in Lorraine. By 1568
work of the celebrated artist of Nancy, is his great pretty well every village of the province had its own
versatility, as proved by
the variety of his exhibits
in the cosmopolitan shows
of 1889 and 1900, not
to speak of those at the
exhibitions of the Societe
Nationale. Who can fail
to remember the fur-
niture designed by him
with the refinement of style
and delicacy of execution
bequeathed by the time
of Louis XV. to the artists
of Lorraine, combined
with the originality and
feeling for Nature in every
form, so thoroughly char-
acteristic of the decorative
designs of its author!
Very specially should be
noted the wonderful
specimens of marquetery
work preserved in the
Luxembourg and in the
Galliera Museum, which
latter, thanks to the intelli-
gent initiative of M. For-
mentin, has become a posi-
tive sanctuary of modern
French decorative art.
In these specimens we are
struck, in the first place,
with the skill with which
M. Galle has turned to
account the various natural
colours of the wood, vase by emile gai.i.f.