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NEWS

M E TH T ESSENCE

RENÉ LALIQUE, THE INVENTOR OF MODERN JEWELLERY, FROM 1 MAY TO 3 NOVEMBER 2024

Papillons de nuit bodice ornament © Studio Y. Langlois/ musée Lalique - private collection

The story continues

Before becoming the greatest Art Deco glassmaker, René Lalique (1860–1945) was a leading exponent of Art Nouveau. At the time,

the influential glass artist Émile Gallé named him “the inventor of modern jewellery” due to Lalique’s gift for incorporating the unexpected in his designs, through his sources of inspiration and the materials he used.

ON VIEW AT THE MUSÉE LALIQUE, THE EXHIBITION OFFERS A SURVEY OF DESIGNS BY LALIQUE, THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE MATERIALS HE EMPLOYED AND HIS SOURCES OF INSPIRATION.

Trained as a jeweller, Lalique’s early work consisted of bright and stunning diamond-studded pieces. But his free and independent spirit made him restless. “I worked tirelessly”, he recalled later, “drawing, experimenting, testing new techniques, preparing models and studies, day in and day out, always driven by the desire to achieve something new, to create something never seen before.” He readily combined gold and precious gemstones with materials seldom used and little appreciated until then, such as horn, ivory, semi-precious gemstones, enamel and of course glass. In his view, it is “always better to strive for beauty than to merely flaunt luxury, because mind takes precedence over matter.” For one admirer, his art is above all “an art of imagination, and even, we might say, an art of sentiment and poetry.” 1 As a close observer of nature from a young age, René Lalique widely explored the worlds of flora and fauna in his designs. He also often celebrated the female form, whether as allegory, winged figure or water deity. Curious and always open to new ideas, he nurtured his imagination through his readings, museum visits and exchanges with his artist friends. As another commentator points out, “Neither the discoveries of Egyptian, Greek or Etruscan archaeological sites, nor medieval or Renaissance treasures, nor the distinctive art of Byzantium, the Caucasus, the Far East, or even the Americas, escaped his notice.” 2

Musée Lalique 40, rue du Hochberg 67290 Wingen-sur-Moder, Alsace

Drawings for belt buckles Dynastes Hercules (c. 1900-1902) and Visage de femme (c. 1897-1900) © Lalique SA

M IS N L UTIER 1795, SYM ISE NEW N TU L ING EDIENTS B ND, C MBINES THE C T THE ST WITH THE INN V TI N THE UTU E.

1 Léonce Bénédite (1859–1925), curator of the Musée du Luxembourg. 2 Roger Marx (1859–1913), art critic.

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