Émile Gallé

ÉMILE GALLÉ (1846-1904)
Blown glass.
Signed Gallé.
Measurements: 21, 3 x 12,7 x 8,8 cm.
Vase with a slightly flattened body, made of multilayer blown glass, decorated with purple and blue saffron, acid etched on yellow background.
Émile Gallé was one of the most prominent figures of the applied arts of his time and a pioneer of Art Nouveau, founder and first president of the École de Nancy in 1901. After his apprenticeship in the glass craft at Meisenthal and in ceramics at the Faïencerie de Saint-Clément, Émile Gallé became a partner in his father's business, dedicated to the trade and decoration of earthenware and glassware, in 1867. He represented his father at the 1867 Paris Universal Exposition, where he received an honorable mention in glassware, and at the 1872 Lyon Universal and International Exposition, where he won a gold medal in class 33 (porcelain and glass).
His approach was not simply theoretical; he was not afraid to try his hand at glassblowing. He combined this with solid knowledge of cabinetmaking and, above all, the family passion for the natural sciences, particularly plants, which led him to drawing. In Nancy, Gallé studied with Dominique-Alexandre Godron, a naturalist and physician. He carried out studies on plants, animals and insects. He was elected secretary of the Société Centrale d'Horticulture de Nancy in 1877.
That same year, Émile Gallé took over the family business and expanded his activities to cabinetmaking in 1885. Having established himself at the Earth and Glass Exhibition of 1884, Gallé was recognized at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889 with three prizes for his ceramics, glassware and furniture (including a Grand Prix for his glassware), where he notably celebrated the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and thus developed, through his symbolic decorations, the theme of patriotism. On this occasion, Gallé was appointed Officer of the Legion of Honor. From this date, Gallé devoted himself intensively to technical and aesthetic research in glassware, a field in which he developed and created new manufacturing processes. His glassworks were designed in Meisenthal until 1894, when he opened a glassworks, which opened in May 1894 in his store in Nancy. Émile Gallé's research culminated in the application for two patents in 1898: "a type of decoration and patina on glass" and "a type of glass and crystal marquetry" by depositing small glass inclusions in the molten paste. His pieces were subsequently reworked by engraving, using a lathe for the most precious and hydrofluoric acid for the most common. His engravers-decorators thus created a cameo decoration on double or multilayer glass.
After the death of Émile Gallé in 1904, his glassworks continued to produce until 1936. Each piece bears Gallé's signature, with hundreds of variations.