Rene Lalique: Entrancing Details

An outstanding artist and a brilliant designer René Lalique (René JulesLalique, 1860—1945) reflected in his works the image of a most romantic epoch in the pan-European arts and humanities — Art Nouveau, and he did this with fine artistry. In the history of the world jewelry the name of R.J.Lalique ranges among such world famous artists as Carl Fabergé, Frederic Boucheron, Louis-Francois Cartier, and Louis C. Tiffany. A retrospective exhibition “Art of René Lalique” in the showroom of the Uspensky Bell-Tower in the Kremlin is the first large-scale exhibition of the unique masterpieces of the great French artist in Russia.

The exhibition includes almost two hundred pieces: finery and drawings, art glass of art nouveau and art deco styles. Jewelry, glass and graphical masterpieces of René Lalique reveal unique artistic innovations of the artist in metal, enamel and glass works, as well as in combinations of the most unexpected and various materials which Lalique turned into the supreme classics of the style. In the world jewelry and art glass the word Art Nouveau is actually identified with René Lalique. His art is, in the truest sense of the word, the Renaissance of the decorative art of the late XIX — early XX centuries.

The exhibition in the Uspensky Bell-Tower in the Kremlin is a part of the program of the cross year Russia-France 2010. This makes the exhibition acquire a peculiar importance and a symbolic nature, showing the closest historical ties of the two countries — Russia and France. The project of the Moscow Kremlin Museums dedicated to the art of René Lalique is second to none in Russia. The artist’s works in collections of the Russian museums are scarce. It should be noted that no large-scale subject exhibitions of René Lalique’s works have been ever held in Russia, and it is only at the turn of the XIX — XX centuries that the masterpieces of René Lalique were displayed twice in Saint Petersburg, for the first time — at the group exhibition of the Dyagilev Association “The World of Art” (1899), and then in1903 — during the Modern Art exhibition.

The exhibits were provided by museums of various countries: the Metropolitan Museum (New York), the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon), the Danish Museum of Art and Design (Copenhagen), the Lambin Museum (Versailles, France), the Fine Arts Museum (Quimper, France), the State Hermitage (Saint Petersburg), the State Archive of the Russian Federation (Moscow) etc. A great deal of exhibits was provided by such private collectors as Sh. Bandman and K. Sorbak, true experts and connoisseurs of their treasures, and this attracts particular interest. The collectors can tell a lot of things about each of the exhibits, consider, for instance, the pendant “The Angels” from the collection of the Gulbenkian Museum: two figures bury their faces in hands in grief, leaning towards the topaz symbolizing the heart of Christ (these are the death angels, and the pendant symbolizes mourning). Only a true collector can direct the visitor’s attention to another, seemingly trifle detail: here, on a copper-spattered dome lamp there are fingerprints of the artist...

René Lalique made his choice early. Since childhood his favorite occupation was drawing of the world around him and of the cherished Champagne nature where he was walking, examining the microworld — the kingdom of all the minor, the beauty of the details that make plasticity and fineness of all the Creation. Later those drawings became a material for his fantasies embodied in metal, enamel, jewelry and glass — so “simple” at the first glance.

Since 1890 Lalique started to create something new in the jewelry. If earlier the value of the jewelry was based on the amount of precious stones in it, this time the world was offered the finest jewelry made of mixed materials, precious or semiprecious stones. New materials were more flexible, able to reproduce the surface pattern designed by the artist, lines from the sketches and unusual colors. Lalique started to value the material ability to reproduce the concept more than its initial value.

The artist was dare to experiment with semiprecious stones, mysterious enamel and metal alloys. A rich scale of amber tones, from white to deep cherry and black, neighbors in the artist’s works the dullness of a turtle carapace. Elegance of natural materials, apparent simplicity of clear glass, and radiance of mother-of-pearl find a fanciful blend in Lalique’s works. Ivory, opal, moonstone, chrysoprase, agate, pearl, enamel borrowed from the East — all these turned into flaring jewelry, and Lalique managed to convince the most demanding public in their unchangeable value.

Intravital fame of René Jules Lalique was tremendous. He created jewelry for outstanding Sarah Bernhardt. One of the versions says it was she who introduced the artist to Calouste Gulbenkian, the Armenian and the Kuwaiti magnate who later became R.J. Lalique’s patron (the collection of the jeweler’s works in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon today includes about 150 pieces and is one of the largest in the world). The Russian Empress Alexandra Fedorovna also ordered Lalique’s jewelry. During the 1900 Paris World Exposition Lalique was awarded the Grand Prix and the Legion of Honor.

Attention to details brings the visitors of the exhibition to the stands: you won’t be able to look at all the exhibits quickly. Graceful dragonflies, orchids, even snow-covered grass-blades fascinate. Passion for something more monumental, yet blurred and mysterious shows up in glass work to which Lalique passes through sculpture; some of the works based on the Venetian technology of glass blowing into metal frame revived in the XIX century date back to the late 1890s. Specific labor intensity of the process is a clear explanation as to why Lalique made just a few pieces based on this technique, including the Swans vase, the Grapes goblet, the Pine cones...

In 1908, at the very outset of art glass production, Lalique met the perfumer Francois Coty and created a concept of his scent-bottles — unique for each perfume. Lalique used glass not only to create exclusive things, but also for large series items — lamps, panels, fountains. One of the decorative panels — “The Glassblower” — is displayed at the Kremlin exhibition.

Lalique’s workmanship was fast to meet its recognition in Russia. In 1896, the period of strengthening of the Franco-Russian alliance, during the formal visit of the Emperor Nicolay II and the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna to Paris, the president of the French Republic Felix Faure presented the Russian monarch with an ornamental cup made by Lalique among other formal gifts. The cup was made of glass in silver. That was not the only thing connected with Lalique’s name and testifying the friendship of France and Russia: René Lalique was among other distinguished French workers of culture who created a unique commemorative sketchbook of those times — a full binding with the printed Coat-of-arms of the Russian Empire, silver lining pads on the cover front constituting the Coat-of-arms of the Russian Empire, and a locket in the distinctive Art Nouveau style ware made by René Lalique. The exhibition in the Kremlin displays the sketch of the handle of a sun or rain shade for the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna.

The Lalique’s company continued to operate after the death of the great artist, who deceased on May 5, 1945 in Paris, in the eighty-sixth year of his long and bright life. The brand still gravitates to birds and insects, drawn in such a detail that seem almost alive. And today, as before, the fashionmongers from all over the world have a gust of inimitable jewelry, mysterious and elegant scent-bottles, fantastic vases and never-to-be-forgotten aroma by Lalique.

The exhibition in the Uspensky Bell-Tower in the Kremlin will last till January 10, 2011.