Émile Gallé
French artist and designer, 1846-1904
Émile Gallé's father owned a factory for glassware and a faience factory in Nancy. At the age of sixteen Gallé went to work for the family business as an assistant to his father, making floral designs and emblems for both faience and glass. After studying philosophy and natural sciences in Germany, Gallé worked as an apprentice at a glass factory in Meisenthal. In 1874 he took over the family business and soon expanded. He founded shops in Paris, Frankfurt and London and led the company to international success with his innovative designs. More than 300 employees worked for the company in 1889. Émile Gallé is considered to be the most important artist of French Art Nouveau in the applied arts.
Source: Wikipedia
French artist (1846-1904). Wonderful autograph letter signed (incomplete). ohne Ort. 8vo. 3 pp.
$ 13,243 / 12.500 €
(92000)
A rare and illustrated letter to Robert de Montesquiou containing five pen drawings of vases. The sheet begins with the end of a letter: „sortie du riche trésor de votre cœur sait si bien élever, par delà notre misérable atmosphère jusqu’à la région où la douleur ne sera plus“. There follows a postscript in which Gallé gratefully mentions a commission from Madame G. [Greffulhe?]: „le vase perdu par quelques Dames de Lorraine sera retrouvé par cette grande Dame de France. […] Qu’un vase élancé, s’orne de la fleur qui ne travaille, qui altièrement file à travers l’azur.
Cette œuvre sera consacrée par un de vos textes que j’attends“. He proposes and draws five vases decorated with lilies or other liliaceae, giving details on the dimensions and colors. Thus: „feuille de déroulant de Musacée taillée; fleurs de lis blanches sur fond cristal bleuté ou blanc verdacé, moussu“. And he concludes: „Il ne faut cependant point que notre liliacée prête, en la circonstance, à dérision, la vertu principale du jeune marié n’étant point la candeur absolue du lis. Peut-être donc la tournure héraldisante un peu est-elle à conseiller“. Rare..