|
|
Déco Lalique
Dr. Peter Kaellgren
World Cultures Department
Royal Ontario Museum
Title: Square Ash Tray, c.1925-1935.
André Hunebelle (French 1896-1985)
Medium: Press-moulded opalescent glass.
Dimensions: L. (side) 12.2 cm. (4 ¾ in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls. 991.56.9
© Royal Ontario Museum, 2005. All rights reserved.
Image Courtesy: The Royal Ontario Museum
In December 2005, the Royal Ontario Museum opened an
exhibition of 70 pieces of Lalique and related glass which runs
until March 18, 2007. The Déco Lalique exhibition is drawn almost
exclusively from the ROM’s important glass collection, which
includes examples dating from the lifetime of René Lalique
(1860-1945) as well as his contemporary imitators.
René Lalique was an important figure in the evolution of modern design.
Originally trained in the classic French academic tradition,
he spent time in the late 1870s in London. During the 1880s and
1890s, he earned a growing reputation as a designer, specializing in
original pieces of jewelery. By 1890, he was operating his own
workshop with a staff of 30 and producing exclusive luxury
bijouterie inspired by Art Nouveau and the Symbolists.
Sarah Bernhardt wore his jewels, and as a result of winning the gold medal
at the Brussels Exposition of 1897, he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur.
After 1900, Lalique became increasingly interested in the color and
texture that could be achieved in glass. He rented a small glass
house near Paris in 1908 and began producing exclusive perfume bottles
for Coty and other French cosmetic firms. In 1919, he
purchased a large glass house at Wingen-sur-Moder in order to meet
the growing demand for his creations. In 1925, at age 65, he scored
a major triumph at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs
et Industriels Modernes in Paris with his pavilion, fountain, and
other products. Lalique was one of the few fin-de-siècle designers
who successfully made the transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco.
During the Art Déco period, 1910-1939, Lalique glass was produced in
a wide range of hues, with the signature color being a translucent,
opalescent white showing fiery orange or blue tints. Lalique
employed traditional French industrial techniques of mould-pressing
and mould-blowing. His wares proved attractive because of their
careful quality control and the subtle way in which the relief
decoration was integrated into the form, often enhanced by
acid-etching or a thin patination of oil paint.
Lalique glass was widely imitated in Europe, Britain and in America.
One of the most intriguing imitations in the ROM collection is an
ash tray bearing the mark of André Hunebelle (1896-1985).
Hunebelle’s first collection of glass, exhibited in 1927, received
wide critical acclaim. Because of his interest in mathematics, some
consider his designs more stylized and angular as found in his
vases, bowls, table glass, ashtrays, powder boxes, decanters, and
decorative pieces in clear, frosted, and opalescent glass. The usual
signature is “A. HUNEBELLE” with and without the word “FRANCE”, the
latter appearing on pieces intended for export.
Hunebelle was a friend of Lalique’s son Marc, and, like Lalique and
Sabino, he ordered moulds from Étienne Fanckhauser. In 1938,
Hunebelle gave up his career as a glass designer, closed his shop,
and became a newspaper administrator. He is best recognized today
for his success as a film producer after World War II. He made
numerous films including Millionaire for a Day and The Three Musketeers. Two of his films won the Prix du Meill.
Other contemporary imitators represented in the ROM collection include:
Marius Ernest Sabino (1878-1961) of Paris; the Verlys Holophane Company of both France and the U.S.;
John Walsh Walsh of Birmingham; Barolac glass manufactured at the Inwald Glassworks,
Czech Republic for John Jenkins & Company, importers of ceramics and glass in London, England;
the Phoenix Glass Co. of Monaca and Pittsburgh; and Moser Crystal from Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.
The Lalique glass and a number of the imitations in the ROM collection, are documented in Déco Lalique (2005) by Carolyn Hatch.
Her book helps to place Lalique glass into a design context for the 20th century and explains how Lalique and modern design were
marketed in Canada during the 1920s and 1930s. Many people will be intrigued by the insights into Lalique glass provided by the
exhibition and accompanying book.
|
|
