As I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I have recently returned from Lisbon, Portugal. One of the most memorable parts of our trip was a visit to the
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. While we loved seeing the paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Rousseau, Manet, Dégas, Renoir and Monet, the highlight, for me, was a permanent collection of works by René Lalique (1860-1945).
Lalique was an extraordinarily prolific and talented French designer, known for his Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs in glass, enamel, jewelry and home decor. Wikipedia states that his name became "synonymous with creativity, beauty and quality". I pretty much have a major jewelry crush on the man and I'll try to show you why today.
My husband and I took a couple hundred pictures of the Lalique Collection. So far I've only sorted through about a third of them. So this will just give you a taste of the scope of the collection. Perhaps I'll do another post as I finish sorting through the rest of the pictures.
Lalique's works were inspired primarily by what were called The Three Fs: Female (form), Fauna and Flora.
A careful observer of nature, many of Lalique's works include plants and a variety of animals.
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| Woodland Scene |
He did not consider any animals to be repulsive or out of bounds: snakes, parrots, grasshoppers and beetles are found in both his glass-works and in his jewelry.
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| Owls |
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| I love the swirl of the peacock's tail (see close up in center picture). The last picture is a drawing Lalique did in planning this piece. | |
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| Check out the size of the amethyst in the cockerel's mouth! |
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| This amazing Serpent Pectorial was originally worn with with a strand of pearls draped from each serpent head | | | | |
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Lalique
was also inspired by the female
form. Much of his work, including his flora and fauna, exhibit the
voluptuous curves associated with a woman's body.
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| Take a look at that mammoth baroque pearl on the left! Wow! | | |
The artist pictured
women as being gentle and mysterious. His work featured graceful female
nudes whose highly stylized curling hair often swirls
sensuously around the object, becoming a design component itself. It is
those flowing, graceful, and often asymmetrical lines that so draw me
to his work.
I hope you have enjoyed this little tour. I look forward to sharing more with you later.
Linda
