René Lalique

• Name — René Lalique • Born — 6 April 1860 • Birthplace — Aÿ, Marne, France • Died — 1 May 1945 (aged 85) • Place of death — Paris, France • Known for — Glass art • Education — Collège Turgot, Ecole des arts décoratifs, Crystal Palace School of Art • Spouse — * Marie-Louise Lambert • Alice Ledru • Children — 6 • Occupation — Glass designer • Birth Name — René Jules Lalique

Lalique was born 6 April 1860 in Aÿ, Marne, France, one of two children, to Auguste Jules Lalique (1831–1875), a traveling peddler, and Olympe Lalique (née Berthellemy; 1835–1906). The family relocated to Paris in 1862. His early life was spent learning the methods of design and art he would use in his later life. At the age of two, his family moved to the suburbs of Paris, but traveled to Aÿ for summer holidays. These trips influenced Lalique later on in his naturalistic glasswork. • Illustration — Tomb of Lalique (and of his wife Alice and son Marc) in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris In 1872, when he was twelve, René entered the Collège Turgot, where he started drawing and sketching. He attended evening classes at the Ecole des arts décoratifs. He worked there from 1874 to 1876 and subsequently spent two years at the Crystal Palace School of Art Sydenham, London. During that time, he also practised as an apprentice goldsmith to leading Parisian Art Nouveau jeweller and goldsmith Louis Aucoc. At the Sydenham Art College, his skills for graphic design were improved, and his naturalistic approach to art was further developed. In 1876, at 16, René Lalique was apprenticed to the jeweler Louis Aucoc.[8] Aucoc was among the leading jewelers working in Paris at the time, and this provided the young René Lalique with an excellent opportunity to learn jewelry production and design. During this time, Lalique also studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

By 1881, Lalique worked as a freelance designer for several French jewelry firms, including Cartier and Boucheron. In 1886, he started working in his workshop in Paris, in the former workshop of Jules Destape. In 1890, René Lalique opened a jewelry store in the Opéra district of Paris. While working in this new shop, some of René Lalique's most famous jewelry designs were created, as well as his experimentation and use of glass. The main motif of Lalique's jewelry design was the natural world. His designs often featured motifs such as dragonflies, orchids, and peacocks, crafted using a combination of enamel, gemstones, and semi-precious materials.[9] Lalique surrounded himself at work with flowers to serve as subtle inspiration for his art.[10] These motifs symbolized the organic flow of life, metamorphosis, and beauty in motion. He also incorporated Japanese nature motifs into his art, and used materials that were uncommon in jewelry at the time, including glass, horn, and enamel.[11]

When he returned from England, he worked as a freelance artist, designing pieces of jewellery for French jewelers Cartier, Boucheron, and others. In 1885, he opened his own business, designed and made his own jewellery and other glass pieces. After 1895, Lalique also created pieces for Samuel Bing's Paris shop, the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, which gave Art Nouveau its name. One of Lalique's major patrons was Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, who commissioned more than 140 of his works over nearly 30 years.[12] Many of these works can be seen on permanent display at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal.

Lalique was best known for his creations in glass art. In the 1920s, he became noted for his work in the Art Deco style. He was responsible for the walls of lighted glass and elegant coloured glass columns which filled the dining room and "grand salon" of the Normandie and the interior fittings, cross, screens, reredos and font of St. Matthew's Church at Millbrook in Jersey (Lalique's "Glass Church").[13] As part of the Art Nouveau style, many of his jewellery pieces and vases showcase plants, flowers and flowing lines.[14] In 1907, Lalique began collaborating with François Coty to design luxury perfume bottles.[15] Lalique was also a pioneer in the use of 'pâte-de-verre,' an ancient glassworking technique, which he used to mold ground glass into intricate, lifelike forms in both jewelry and decorative objects.[16] Both unique and commercial works of René Lalique are in the collections of a large number of public museums around the world including the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, the Lalique Museum of Hakone in Japan, the Musée Lalique and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in France, the Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim in Germany, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum and the Corning Museum in New York State, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Lalique died on 1 May or 5 May 1945, in Paris. René Lalique was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. His daughter Suzanne Lalique was the painter and set designer for the Comédie-Française. His son Marc Lalique continued the family business as a glass artist himself. It was under his impetus that the Maison Lalique began its transition from glass to crystal in the early 1950s.[17] Marc's daughter, Marie Claude-Lalique (b. 1936), was also a glass maker who died on 14 April 2003 in Fort Myers, Florida.

• Illustration — Citroën Company Spirit of the Wind, Blackhawk Museum • Illustration — Toyota: Horse • Illustration — Cicadas, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian • Illustration — 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, glass model • Illustration — Tiara, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian • Illustration — Lalique Hood ornament • Illustration — Glass vase • Illustration — Fern Leaves Brooch, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore • Illustration — Medusa • Illustration — Lalique glass altarpiece in St. Matthew's Church (the Glass Church), Millbrook, Jersey • Illustration — Dragonfly lady brooch, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, acquired from the artist in 1903[18] • Illustration — Glass vase, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian • Illustration — Pendant, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian • Illustration — Necklace designed for Lalique's second wife, Alice Ledru, ca 1897–99, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York • Illustration — A lighting fixture in the great dining room in the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. • Illustration — Corsage ornament, Khalili Collection of Enamels of the World • Illustration — Nude Venus of René Lalique in the Mougins Museum of Classical Art • Illustration — Mistletoe Bowl, Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums • Illustration — Finger ring with bean pod motif in the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna

René Lalique was recorded at birth as René Jules Lalique. The authorities additionally record the headings Rene Lalique, René-Jules Lalique, Rene J. Lalique, René-Jean Lalique and René J. His recorded language was French. He was the child of Olympe Lalique. He married Alice Ledru and Marie-Louise Lambert. 4 children are recorded: Marc Lalique, Suzanne Lalique-Haviland, Georgette-Renée Lalique and René-Claude Le Mesnil.

René Lalique is recorded with the occupation stained-glass artist. Recorded with the occupation jewelry designer. Recorded as goldsmith, stained-glass artist, jeweler and artist.