Émile Gallé

ÉMILE GALLÉ (Nancy, 1846 - Nancy, 1904).
"Nesting table (Table gigogne)".
Set of three pieces.
Signed.
Hardwoods (rosewood, mahogany, sycamore) with fruit marquetry.

Set of nesting tables by Émile Gallé, one of the leading figures of French Art Nouveau, in which his aesthetic and conceptual principles are exemplarily synthesized. The furniture is conceived as a living organism, where form, function and decoration are harmoniously integrated, reflecting the artist's deep connection with nature.

Surfaces are richly decorated with contrasting wood marquetry, with organic, plant-inspired motifs that seem to unfold and transform as the tables separate or interlock with each other. This play of superimposition and revelation reinforces the idea of movement and metamorphosis, an essential characteristic of Gallé's language. The choice of wood grains and shades is not merely ornamental, but contributes to creating a visual rhythm that dialogues with the structural lines of the furniture.

From a formal point of view, the design balances solidity and lightness, combining a robust architecture with delicate and symbolic ornamentation. The nesting table thus responds to the Galléenne conception of the utilitarian object elevated to a total work of art, where craftsmanship of excellence is placed at the service of a poetic and naturalistic vision.

This ensemble is part of the most representative production of Art Nouveau in Nancy and is a testimony to the high technical level reached by the workshops of Émile Gallé, as well as his desire to renew the decorative arts through a modern language, rooted in the observation of the natural world.

Émile Gallé was one of the great renovators of the decorative arts at the end of the 19th century and a key figure of the École de Nancy. His work, which encompasses glass, ceramics and furniture, is represented in institutions such as the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His legacy is distinguished by technical excellence, formal innovation and a deep symbolic charge linked to nature and modern thought.