Renee Lalique

Vol. 5.7

R e n e e L a l i q u e

by Lauren Ragland with Sheffield School of Interior Design

The French artist Renee Lalique helped to define the aesthetic of the Art Nouveau movement with his masterful glass pieces. He used glass to craft vases, jewelry, perfume bottles, car mascots, and other items, and decorated them with intricate mosaics or curvaceous forms in the shape of animals or elements from nature. Lalique's trademark style had fluid lines that resembled the movement of water and the colors he chose, such as plum, turquoise, yellow, and black made him a world-renowned artist. While some criticized him for becoming a commercial artist – he mass-produced his work – he paid no mind to his critics. By making his work accessible to the mass public, Lalique introduced democracy to the art world. Today, we see that his work wasn't just a fleeting trend, quickly absorbed and thrown aside by the general public. Some pieces generate much attention on the auction floor while the less sought after pieces are sold at reasonable prices in boutiques.

The Art Nouveau movement, in which Lalique played a large part, spanned the years 1890-1925 and was initiated by the artists' revolt against industrialization. Once again, art began drawing inspiration from nature. The movement was characterized by stylizing natural elements such as vines, leaves, and animals. These were used as adornments on everything from furniture, architecture, and clothing to of course, glasswork. The innovators of the movement intended to derive nothing from the past, and hoped Art Nouveau would become the most original art form to ever emerge. Lalique stood alongside such known artists as Louis Comfort Tiffany, Toulouse Lautrec, and Galle as the artists who most heavily influenced and shaped the movement. Lalique's name was synonymous with his famous vases, making him without a doubt the greatest in the field, both for his inventiveness and his popularity.

Lalique was born in Ay, France in 1860. From an early age his mother helped foster his artistic sensibilities. At age 16 he began an apprenticeship with the famous jeweler, Louis Aucoc, and at the age of 21, he was creating his own line of jewelry. He opened a workshop in 1885 and quickly gained notoriety due to his flowing and majestic plant, animal, and human forms. Many admired his work for its originality. Lalique was the first to pair semi-precious stones with ivory, pearl, coral, enamel, and even plastic or glass.

By 1900, Lalique found that he had reached the pinnacle of his success in the jewelry field. With a desire to expand his artistic vision, he began using glass to create an array of decorative pieces. This career change would prove to be highly successful. By the age of fifty, he became a master glassmaker and gained worldwide fame. Almost a hundred years later, he is still a well-recognized figure. Aside from his signature pieces, such as tableware, inkwells, vases, clocks, and chandeliers, he also made perfume bottles for some of the most prestigious perfumeries and car hood ornaments for the most stylish cars of his day – Bentley, Hispano, Suiza, and Bugatti. The hood ornaments were illuminated from within and came in the shapes of fish, horse heads, frogs, dragonflies, and shooting stars.

The work of Lalique has enjoyed a long-lasting popularity. In 1990, one of his perfume bottles sold for $80,000 at an auction. A few years ago, at Philips in Geneva, one of his perfume bottles sold for $58,350. These high prices would seem understandable if there were only a handful of Lalique pieces still in circulation, but when his work was in its greatest demand, he employed up to 600 people at his factory. Millions of pieces of glassware were produced. To give a personal touch to his processed pieces, he frosted, polished, and glazed them.

While all of his work was immensely popular, his true talent shone through in his vases. He used the colors that became synonymous with Art Nouveau – amber, plum, blue, opalescent, gray, green, black, and yellow hues. He used smooth flowing lines coupled with geometric designs and luminous colors. Lalique glasswork is not just a collector's item; it helped to define the movement. For these reasons, museums the world over display his work.

Lalique died in 1945, leaving his company in the hands of his son Marc. Today, the firm is still operational, producing beautifully crafted glass pieces in the style that Lalique made so popular. Now, just as it has always been, all of his work is available in a wide range of price brackets and so is enjoyed by both extravagant and modest spenders.

– Lauren Ragland