René Lalique

René Jules Lalique (6 April 1860 in Ay, Marne – 1 May 1945 in Paris) was a French glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks and automobile hood ornaments.

Lalique's 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 Ay for summer holidays. These trips influenced Lalique later on in his naturalistic glasswork. With the death of his father two years later, Lalique began working as an apprentice to goldsmith Louis Aucoc in Paris. He died on 1 May 1945, Paris. René Lalique was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. His granddaughter, Marie Claude-Lalique (b. 1936), was also a glass maker.She died on 14 April 2003 in Fort Myers, Florida.

In 1872, when he was twelve, he entered the Collège Turgot where he started drawing and sketching. He attended evening classes at the Ecole des arts décoratifs. He worked there from 1874–1876 and subsequently spent two years at the Crystal Palace School of Art Sydenham, London. During that time, he also practiced 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.

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 and designed and made his own jewellery and other glass pieces.After 1895, Lalique also created pieces for Samuel Bing's Paris shop, theMaison 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.

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 SS Normandie and the interior fittings, cross, screens, reredos and font of St. Matthew's Church at Millbrook in Jersey (Lalique's "Glass Church").His earlier experiences in Ay were his defining influence in his later work. As a result, many of his jewellery pieces and vases showcase plants, flowers and flowing lines.

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 [fr] and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in France, the Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim [de] 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.

• Spirit of the Wind, Blackhawk Museum

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  Horse

• Cicadas, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

• 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, glass model

• Tiara, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

• Lalique Hood ornament

• Glass vase

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  Fern Leaves Brooch, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

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  Medusa

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  Lalique glass altarpiece in St. Matthew's Church (the Glass Church), Millbrook, Jersey

• Dragonfly lady brooch, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, acquired from the artist in 1903

• Glass vase, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

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  Pendant, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

• Necklace designed for Lalique's second wife, Alice Ledru, ca 1897–99, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

• A lighting fixture in the great dining room in the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum.

• A lighting fixture in the great dining room in the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum.