ARTICLE - EMILE GAIIÉ
INTRO:
Emile GaIIé was born in Nancy, France, in 1846. His father, Charles Louis Edward GaIIé, ran a successful faience and glassmaking factory, and Emile would eventually follow him into the business, but not before he had undertaken studies of the subjects that most interested him, and there were many: botany, philosophy, literature, art, chemistry and mineralogy. He also studied in Germany, where he learned glass and furniture making skills before returning to France and the family business in 1867. He still managed to travel extensively in GaIIé had a passion for plants, and he often spent time drawing and observing flora in the family’s rambling garden; in the evenings he would study the Bible and read poetry. It was a quiet, unassuming life that probably did nothing to prepare him for what happened next: a year of fighting in the France/Prussia war. He returned to his father’s business in 1871 and two years later moved in to La Garenne, a huge house with a large garden that Charles GaIIé had built in Nancy. Emile opened a workshop there, where he mainly produced enamelled decorated clear glass. He married a pastor’s daughter, Henriette Grimm, in 1875, and two years later became director of his father’s factory. And that’s where the GaIIé glass story really begins. In 1878, Emile GaIIé exhibited at the International Exhibition in Paris. He was awarded four Gold Medals, but he wasn’t as delighted as we might imagine; he felt the exhibition in general failed to look to the future, and it gave him added impetus to follow his own designs. He built several workshops in 1883, dedicated separately to the manufacture of earthenware, glassware and cabinet-making, and he began experimenting in marquetry designs in furniture whilst at the same time combining his love of chemistry with his artistic ideas for glassmaking. GaIIé displayed his new glass creations to great acclaim at the 1889 International Exhibition in Paris, and in 1894 he opened a large glass manufacturing plant in Nancy. It was here that his experimentations with hydrofluoric acid led to some of his most exquisite glass, created with a team of designers and craftsmen working together on each design; GaIIé would actively make alterations, and nothing left the Cristallerie D’Emile GaIIé without his approval. GaIIé’s endless quest for new designs led to continual experimentation, some of which worked and some of which didn’t. One successful technique evolved from the discovery that metallic foils could create a highlighting effect when they were applied into the glass-making process, particularly when they were used in cameo work; the foils were placed between the coloured glass sheets, adding extra effect to the finished detail. Marqueterie de verre, which has become one of his most sought after techniques with today’s collectors, involved pressing coloured glass elements into a glass object in a semi-molten state and then rolling it to create smoothness. Most of GaIIé’s designs revolved By 1900 GaIIé was one of the world’s most significant manufacturers of luxury glass, with outlets in Paris, Germany and London, and a factory employing more than 300 workers. Industrial techniques were introduced to keep up with demand, and in 1901 he decided to establish a special grouping of artists and industrialists with the intention of becoming the major impetus behind the emerging Art Nouveau movement. Called the Ecole de Nancy (School of Nancy), other artists included Eugene Vallin, Louis Majorelle, Antonin Daum and Jacques Gruber, although GaIIé was the first President and the driving force. Emile GaIIé died from leukemia in 1904, but his wife Henriette continued to produce luxury glass – working from sketches, drawings and works in progress – until 1914, when the factory closed due to the First World War. It reopened in 1919 under Paul Perdrizet, son-in-law of Emile, who produced both wheel-cut and acid etched glass under GaIIé’s name, but the doors finally closed for good in 1936. The modern appreciation for GaIIé began to develop in the early 1980s, when a (then) world record of US$250,000 was bid in New York for a marqueterie de verre and wheel-carved bowl, or coupe, decorated with a dragonfly. This heralded the invasion of the American collectors who dominated the market until 1988, when a significant Japanese interest emerged. Between 1988 and 1991, the vast majority of artistic GaIIé (as opposed to mass-produced GaIIé) that appeared on the auction market was bought by Japanese collectors. Their interest was short-lived, however; the decline that began at the end of 1991 saw prices for some of the more spectacular pieces drop to a level that was generally considered to be more realistic. When it’s not really GaIIé Author and New York dealer Nicholas M. Dawes, an (Nicholas M. Dawes is considered America’s leading authority on works by Rene Lalique, and is an expert appraiser for the US Antiques Roadshow. In 2005 he co-authored a guide on Art Deco with Judith Miller). This information appeared in Issue 26 of Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure & Profit.
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Europe, visiting museums and studying the
work of influential designers to develop his knowledge of glassmaking. He discovered the delights of enamelling in the Oriental collection of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, and was fascinated by the cameo works of designers
such as Eugene Rousseau and the famous Portland vase.
around his fascination with flowers, plants and insects
which lent themselves to spectacular vases and lamps, the plant tendrils modelled to curl around the softly coloured glass, or a dragonfly placed so lightly as to appear as though it had just alighted on the subdued glass of a table
lamp. He produced intricate designs that required days to complete, as well as high quality art glass which took less production time but was no less exquisite. He even created an air of mystery to his pieces by carving or sealing a
poetic sentence within the glass, thus keeping alive his early love of poetry; such glass is known as verrerie parlante, or talking glassware, when the verse is romantic, and vases de tristesse when the verse is sombre.
authority on Art Deco glass, says that
Gallé's popularity has precipitated a wide variety of forgeries over the last decade. ‘The best examples include imitations of marqueterie de verre made in France by glass artists of undeniable ability. These are convincing to all but the
most educated eyes, and several have appeared in the sumptuous colour illustrations of major auction catalogues, only to be discreetly withdrawn prior to going under the hammer,’ he writes. ‘The vitreous nature of glass renders it easy
to cut and polish on a wheel, and it is not uncommon to find authentic works by GaIIé which have been cleverly altered to disguise damage.’ Dawes lists other deceptive alterations including the application of glass elements such as
dragonflies or similar japonaiseries onto signed GaIIé vessels of plain origin. ‘Forgeries such as these are much more difficult to detect than the conventional fake,’ he says, ‘and typically an authentic Gallé-style piece made by an inferior
glassworks has been given a GaIIé ‘signature.’ Some Art Nouveau marquetry furniture has also been treated in this fashion.’ However, Dawes says that the most common category of fakes is the modern, simulated overlay glass vase or
table lamp, which can be found at interior design stores of all types, including department stores. ‘Most of these are made purely as decorative objects and are not intended to deceive the buyer,’ he writes, ‘but some feature simulated
signatures and are commonly misrepresented by unscrupulous dealers or auctioneers.’ The message is the same as always – do your homework, and make sure you buy from a reputable dealer.
