René Jules Lalique was a French
glass designer known for his creations of
perfume bottles,
vases,
jewellery,
chandeliers,
clocks and automobile
hood ornaments. He was born in the French village of
Ay on 6 April 1860 and died 5 May 1945. He started a glassware firm, named after himself, which still remains successful.
Life and education
Lalique's early life was spent learning the methods of design and art he would use in his later life. At the age of two, his family moved to a suburb of Paris, but traveled to Ay for summer holidays. These trips influenced Lalique's later
naturalistic glasswork. In 1872, when he was twelve, he entered the College
Turgot where he started drawing and sketching. With the death of his father two years later, Lalique began working as an apprentice to goldsmith
Louis Aucoc in Paris and attended evening classes at the
Ecole des arts décoratifs. He worked there from 1874-1876 and subsequently spent two years at the
Sydenham Art College in London.
Art Nouveau jewelry designer
,
Lisbon]]
At the Sydenham Art College, his skills for graphic design were improved, and his naturalistic approach to art was further developed. When he returned from England, he worked as a freelance artist, designing pieces of jewellery for French jewelers, Cartier, Boucheron and others. In 1885, he opened his own business and designed and made his own jewellery and other glass pieces. By 1890, Lalique was recognized as one of France's foremost Art Nouveau jewellery designers; creating innovative pieces for Samuel Bing's new Paris shop, Maison de l'Art Nouveau. He went on to be one of the most famous in his field, his name synonymous with creativity, beauty and quality.
Glass maker
In the 1920s, he became noted for his work in the
Art Deco style. He was responsible for the walls of lighted glass and elegant coloured glass columns which filled the dining room and "grand salon" of the and the interior fittings, cross, screens, reredos, font of
St. Matthew's Church at
Millbrook in
Jersey (Lalique's Glass Church). His earlier experiences in Ay were his defining influence later his work. As a result, many of his jewelry pieces and vases showcase plants, flowers and flowing lines.
On May 5, 1945 René Lalique was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. His granddaughter, Marie Claude-Lalique (b. 1936), was also a glass maker. She died on April 14, 2003 in Fort Myers, Florida.
References
Bibliography
William Warmus;The Essential Rene Lalique .Harry N Abrams Inc New York, 2002 ISBN 978-0810958364
Bayer,Patricia & Waller,Mark: The Art of Rene Lalique ,Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, London 1988 ISBN 0-7475-0182-3
Dawes,Nicholas M: Lalique Glass,Crown Publishers ,London 1986 ISBN 978-0517558355
External links
Rene Lalique Biography at RLalique.com.
Lalique company, with a biography of the artist from the company web site.
Lalique jewels in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
This is Jersey article on St Matthew's Millbrook, the "Glass Church".
Musée Lalique official website of the only European museum entirely about Lalique
Category:1860 births
Category:1945 deaths
Category:Art Nouveau
Category:Art Deco designers
Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Category:French decorative artists
Category:Glass artists
Category:Jewellery designers