René Lalique

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René Lalique

René Jules Lalique (born April 6, 1860 in Ay in Champagne , † May 1, 1945 in Paris) was an entrepreneur, founder of the company and one of the best-known jewelry and glass artists of Art Deco and Art Nouveau , the French version of Art Nouveau .

biography

Childhood, youth and education

René Lalique was born on April 6, 1860 in the small village of Ay in Champagne, the son of a sales representative. In 1862 the family moved to the Paris capital region.

In 1872 Lalique began drawing training with the teacher Jean-Marie Leguien at the Collège Turgot . In the following four years he also learned techniques of jewelry art and continued his drawing training at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. His father died in 1876. In the same year Lalique began an apprenticeship with Louis Aucoc (1850-1932), a respected, exclusive, luxurious jeweler in Paris. At the same time, he continued his training at the École des Arts Décoratifs . 1878-1880 he undertook a two-year study visit at Sydenham College in London. During these two years he developed his characteristic drawing style based on natural forms, which would later also shape his jewelry art.

The young artist

Returning to Paris, he began his professional activity as a draftsman and designer of jewelry designs for various jewelers, partly as a freelancer, partly as an employee. His completely new designs found buyers at the top addresses among Parisian jewelers, including Cartier . In 1884 he founded Lalique & Varenne together with the Varenne jeweler . His drawings were exhibited at the national arts and crafts exhibition, the Salon National des Arts Industriels , in the Louvre .

Towards the end of 1885 Lalique took over an existing arts and crafts workshop. Now he could make his own jewelry. Contrary to popular belief, he attached little importance to precious materials such as gold, pearls and precious stones. Above all, the value of the artistic work was important to him. He also incorporated cheap materials such as enamel, ivory, horn, semi-precious stones, common stones and glass in his work.

In 1886 he married Marie-Louise Lambert. The connection resulted in a daughter, Georgette.

Despite the simple materials, his jewelry was well received by the public. In 1889 his works were added to the range of the renowned jewelry store Vever et Boucheron, without naming his name. In 1890 he was able to open his own shop in an elegant location.

On May 4, 1892, Suzanne , the daughter of his extramarital relationship with Augustine-Alice Ledru, was born. Suzanne married the photographer Paul Haviland in 1917 .

From 1893, works by Lalique and Lalique's company were presented at important exhibitions and repeatedly won important prizes. In 1894 he began to make stage decorations for the actress Sarah Bernhardt . Works by him were sold in Samuel Bing's L'Art Nouveau store , the name of which became a term for the French expression of Art Nouveau .

An Art Nouveau artist

He found the themes and shapes for his work in the motifs of Art Nouveau, its curved shapes and its natural motifs such as birds, especially swans, and plants. From around 1895, when he was no longer dependent on supplying the Parisian jewelers, his own unconventional style was fully expressed.

On September 1, 1900, Marc, the second child from the relationship with Augustine-Alice Ledru, was born. In 1902 Lalique married Augustine-Alice. In the same year he had a large house built in Paris, which also served as a residence, workshop and sales exhibition.

In 1904, his workshop was represented at the World Exhibition in St. Louis ( Louisiana Purchase Exposition ). From 1908 he turned increasingly to glass art. He made perfume bottles for the first time for the perfumer François Coty . He rented the atelier for glass work in Combs-la-Ville .

In 1909 his wife Augustine-Alice Lalique-Ledru died. Georgette, the daughter of his first marriage to Marie-Louise Lambert, died in December 1910.

Successful years as an artist and entrepreneur

Illuminated automobile hood ornament by René Lalique
Lalique's grave in the Pere Lachaise cemetery

In 1911, at a major sales exhibition in Paris, Lalique presented works made exclusively of glass for the first time. From then on he gave up the art of jewelry and devoted himself entirely to glass art. During the First World War , Lalique had utility glass manufactured for medicine and the pharmaceutical industry in his workshop Combs-la-Ville.

After the war he turned back to the artisan glass production. In 1921 he opened another factory in Wingen-sur-Moder , which is still the production site of today's Lalique company . At the beginning of the 1920s Lalique company in the design of was Orient Express , the Côte d'Azur Pullman Express , additional Pullman for the Pullman trains of CIWL and the Great Ocean liners Ile de France , Paris , Normandy and Grasse involved, for he made designs and window panes from pressed glass with decorative patterns and figures.

On May 1, 1925, a son, Jean Raymond, was born from his relationship with Marie Anère. A daughter, Renée Jeanne Georgette, followed two years later.

At the arts and crafts exhibition in Paris in 1925, the term Art Déco was first used for the style to which many of the works and products made by Lalique since 1920 can be assigned. At that exhibition, Lalique designed the pavilion for the porcelain company Sèvres . In the following years Lalique helped design important churches, public buildings and department stores. These included the church of St. Nicaise in Reims , the fountains on the Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées on the Champs-Elysées in Paris and the portals of the palace of Prince Asaka Yasuhiko in Tokyo . His company designed and manufactured hood ornaments for the car brands Citroën , Bentley , Bugatti , Hispano-Suiza , Rolls-Royce and Voisin . Lalique vases, flasks and glass figurines were known and sought after around the world. In the second half of the 1930s, Lalique was at the height of his success as an artistic entrepreneur. Lalique's works fetch top prices at auctions.

The time after 1939

In 1940 Lalique's factory was seized by the German occupying forces and had to close. René Lalique died on May 1, 1945. He is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Awards

Museums

literature

Web links

Commons : René Lalique  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gladly at its finest: Souvenirs from the golden age of the railways in Paris in: FAZ from September 24, 2011, page 41.
personal data
SURNAME Lalique, René
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lalique, René Jules
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French entrepreneur, company founder, art deco jewelry and glass artist
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Ay , champagne
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1945
Place of death Paris