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HERITAGE

AS THE BOND BETWEEN FATHER AND DAUGHTER GREW, SUZANNE’S TALENT BLOSSOMED.

The 1900 World Exposition brought international recognition to René Lalique’s unique genius as the greatest jeweller of his time. A little brother was born in September of that year and the family moved to a vast and magnificent mansion on Cours la Reine, across from the Seine and near the Pont de l’Alma, built to Lalique’s specifications. He designed the façade ornamentation and the interiors, infused with art, harmony, luxury and beauty. The workshops for Lalique and his associates were on the ground floor, while the next floors were devoted to showrooms and reception areas, with the living quarters occupying the fourth floor. The new premises exuded the joy of life, with frequent parties and friends’ visits. Suzanne began drawing at a young age. Her father noticed and became her teacher. Strict and uncompromising, he tolerated neither daydreaming nor laziness, so Suzanne worked hard and proved to be an especially gifted student. Whenever Lalique travelled, he insisted that she send drawings by post every day and he replied immediately with his critiques. As the bond between them grew, Suzanne’s talent blossomed. But the family would soon experience great moments of sadness. In 1909, Lalique lost his beloved mother Olympe as well as Alice, whose death was the result of post-operative haemorrhaging. The next year, his daughter Georgette passed away.

FACING PAGE Sketches of decorations for a Sèvres porcelain vase, c. 1920, gouache, watercolour and black ink ©Musée Lalique - donated by Shai Bandmann and Ronald Ooi THIS PAGE

Folding screen with three panels, 1920, oil and gouache on paper glued to canvas © Studio Y. Langlois/musée Lalique - donated by Shai Bandmann and Ronald Ooi

Off-centre, asymmetrical and astonishingly modern, this unique composition would go on to be featured on every Coty powder box, up to the present day, a young artist’s experiment transformed into a phenomenal success. The next year, the Manufacture de Sèvres purchased a number of Suzanne’s decorative watercolours to be enamelled on platters and in 1912 she presented a series of drawings at the Salon d’Automne to be printed on fabric, some of which would be manufactured by Tassinari & Chatel. In 1913, Jacques Doucet, the renowned fashion designer who was also a major art collector and patron, commissioned Suzanne to design a sofa for his Avenue du Bois apartment, a career-defining triumph. After this success, she created five folding screens for his studio on Rue Saint-James in Neuilly. This legendary residence was furnished and decorated by the period’s most prominent avant-garde artists. It would ultimately feature a total of eleven folding screens by Suzanne.

Just seventeen when her mother died, Suzanne was thrust into the role of mistress of the house. Brought even closer than before, father and daughter shared meals nearly every day, exchanging ideas about their latest artistic creations. René Lalique was now a master glassmaker, with a large factory in Combs-la-Ville. He already counted the perfumer François Coty among his prestigious clients. In 1910, Coty commissioned Lalique to design a powder box to be made of cardboard covered with paper. Feeling that Suzanne’s time had come, he offered her the project. She proposed a graphic design that drew its inspiration from the ultimate object, representing an arrangement of powder puffs.

She exhibited her creations each year at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs: rugs, tapestries, bas-reliefs and drawings. Suzanne worked frequently for the Manufacture de Sèvres and her highly regarded decorative designs were enamelled on numerous dinnerware sets, vases and boxes. She collaborated with her father on designs for the interiors of ocean liners and luxury trains. From 1912 on, their joint projects mainly related to the decorative elements which would be reproduced on various items made by the Lalique glassworks.

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