French designer Emile Galle is considered one of the main representatives of the Art Nouveau style. Its naturalistic design, combined with innovative technologies, made it one of the first glass manufacturers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is not surprising that the Frenchman drew inspiration from nature and plants. The strong influence of Japanese designers also affected, due to which his work was called "poetry in glass." Halle developed a technique for the production of cut small and enameled glass. Images on his works were enhanced by bright colors and transparency of the material. His manner of making glassware and his artistic style had a great influence on other Art Nouveau artists of the time, including the Daum brothers. In 1901, Halle founded and became the first president of the École de Nancy, Provincial de Industries d'Art Alliance, whose goal was the organization and protection of all who were engaged in works of decorative art nouveau.
Biography
Emil Galle, born in the eastern French city of Nancy in 1846, was destined to be engaged in glasswork. His father Charles successfully engaged in the production of earthenware and was a glassblower in his own factory. Young Emil Galle began to paint faience and help cut and enamel glassware. After studying botany, chemistry, philosophy and art, he later studied glass making techniques at Meisenthal before joining his father in a factory in 1867.
He traveled extensively throughout Europe, developing his knowledge in this area, visiting museums and studying the works of other famous artists. He became acquainted with such a method as enameling, which he found in the eastern collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and was fascinated by the cameos of great designers. On his return to Nancy, he began experimenting with his new knowledge. The early works of Emil Galle are mainly made of transparent glass, decorated with enamels.
Features of fiction
Emil Galle lived in an era of technological, scientific and political explosion. He revolutionized the art of glass making by combining ancient methods such as enameling, cameo and inlay with his own developments and industrial innovations. Combining heavy frosted glass with a Japanese style, Galle gave his details an atmosphere of mystery by carving or sealing an image inside each item. This creative and innovative feature soon became his trademark. Halle's imagination and the constant introduction of new technologies allowed the creation of products that are unparalleled to this day. He believed that his glass vessels should not be just functional containers. Nature was his source of beauty and inspiration. Each bowl, vase or jug was inspired by the natural balance of light and darkness, birth and death, growth and wilting. In Galle’s glass vessels, colored spots, constellations of air bubbles, flickering spots of built-in metal foil, and even insects that seem to float in the haze can be found.
Creation of own production
In 1873, he founded his own workshop, which was engaged in the manufacture of glass, and in 1877 acquired his father's glass and ceramics factory in Nancy. Halle's works became widely known after the Grand Prix of the Paris Exhibition of 1878. There he encountered the works of the English of Locke and Northwood. Also, the master was amazed at the technology of marquetry (wooden mosaic) in the art of making furniture. Halle opened a small wood workshop in 1885, where he began experimenting with marquetry in the manufacture of furniture.
In 1884, in Paris, he presented 300 of his works of art. And the world exhibition, which took place there in 1889, was a breakthrough for Halle and the Art Nouveau style as a whole. His works began to be widely imitated, especially at the Daum Brothers factory in Nancy. By 1891, he exhibited in the salons only individual works that were acquired by museums and collectors.
In 1894, Halle built a factory in Nancy and began to create his own projects. Throughout the 1890s, he created many new productions in his Cristallerie d'Emile Gallé and hired a team of design masters who worked on his projects and signed him after approval. The factory employed 300 people, and the demand for Halle's work was very high. In fact, he revolutionized the art glass industry, becoming the first to begin mass production of products using industrial technology.
New technologies in the creation of works
Thanks to his indefatigable thirst for discoveries, Halle constantly experimented. He found that metal foil can give an extraordinary effect when used in the manufacturing process of glass, especially when included in cameos. He placed it between sheets of stained glass. His enamels were just as revolutionary. Emil Galle mixed glass with metal oxides and suspended them in oil, giving the finished parts a completely different look after firing.
The development and emergence of new motives
In those years, many of Emil Galle's works were exhibited with great success (the photo is in the article), which received international awards, recognition and increased public interest. Each product created by the illustrious factory was strongly influenced by Halle's passion for natural design. His products adorn many plants: from thistle to fuchsia, clematis and chrysanthemum. Often, Halle also used the theme of insects: in many of his works there are butterflies, dragonflies and beetles.
He applied his favorite motives not only to vases. Emil Galle's table lamps made a stunning impression; in the manufacture of some of them, he cut the edges with a rotating wheel. This technique was originally used and developed in the VIII century BC, and was improved much later, in the XVIII century.
Awards
At the 1900 International Exhibition in Paris, Halle had an outstanding exhibition, including a working oven in the center. The show was highly acclaimed, and Halle won two major prizes. This was the last triumph of his career. Throughout his life, the master has won many awards, including the Order of the French Legion of Honor.
Heritage
In an effort to make Art Nouveau famous throughout the world, Halle founded Ecole de Nancy to promote it and create an alliance between art and industry. Members could only be men who have achieved outstanding success in various fields. Among them were the Louis Hesteaux potter, manufacturers of thin glass and other owners of the Nancy factory, the Daum brothers and furniture manufacturers Victor Pruve and Louis Majorelle. Galle remained president until his death from leukemia in 1904. Ecol de Nancy did not stop production until 1909, and the widow of the craftsman worked at the glass factory together with Victor Pruve. Emil Galle continued to be signed on all glass products, although a star was engraved next to him indicating that the products were made after his death. Then, with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, production ceased. And it resumed only after its completion, when Paul Perdrizet, the son-in-law of Emile Halle, headed the factory. Paul’s contribution was to add new designs that retained the same technique and style that the maestro had used throughout his life. Production completely ceased in 1936. Halle's works are kept in almost every museum in the world, including the Metropolitan, Smithsonian Institution and the Louvre in Paris.
Features of creativity
Despite the fact that Halle mixed many different styles and trends, he always created something new and unusual, something mysterious. In addition to nature, literature was of great importance to him. For example, some Emil Halle vases made in the Art Nouveau style had a poetic addition, which is an integral part of the product, it was associated with the design of the item or its owner. The master took quotes from the works of poets such as Francois Villon, Charles Baudelaire, Stefan Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine and others. Later, he began to use this technique in the manufacture of furniture.
Adapting his work to the individuality of the owner is a common feature for Art Nouveau artists.
Halle liked playing with the character of the materials he used. He cared about the quality of the material and worked on a new technique. The master liked to play with the transparency of the glass and create new visual effects. He patented several new processes for glass processing.
Main works
The master has created many works. Among these, for example, the following can be mentioned:
- Bedroom "Dawn and Twilight" (1904).
- The Rhine River table (1889), which was on display at the 1900 World's Fair.
- Emil Halle's vases of colored glass in metal frames, as well as numerous products with floral motifs: with cornflowers, Rose of France and French Rose, with iris, in the form of a folded banana leaf, with lotuses, with clematis, with poppies, " Willows at sunset ”, with a dahlia, with anemones and dragonflies.
L. de Furco in 1903 published the book "Emile Galle", which in fact preceded the book "Ekritriti for 1884–89" ("Notes on the Art of 1884–89"). It was posthumously published in 1908 and is still interesting to people.