René Jules Lalique - Art Deco

Rene Lalique was born in Marne, France in 1860 and died in Paris in the year 1945. He used to work as a designer in the Art Deco movement, a glass-maker and a jeweler. After his father's death, he was adopted by a Parisian jeweler, Louis Aucoc and studied at Lycee Turgot. He then moved to London to continue his studies at the Sydenham school. There he studied graphical art. 

After a few years, he moved back to Paris and there he became a jeweler and owned the Jules d'Estape workshop. In this workshop he produced Art Nouveau styled jewelry using gemstones and cheap metal. 

Dragonfly woman

Buckle 

Bird Ring

 As you can see, his inspirations mainly included: Insects and flowers such as; dragonflies, scarabs, poppies and anemones. The jewelry he produced were mainly for Boucheron, Destape, Cartier and Aucoc. He also made jewelry for Sarah Bernhardt, which was an actress (1844-1933). 

Lalique started to exhibit his own works at the 'Paris Salons' and also at 'Exposition Universelle et Internationale' in Paris. The exhibits at the 'Exposition Universelle et Internationale' were more detailed as Lalique started to use the technique of engraving in the glass for the jewelry. For the amazing detail in his glassworks he started to gain popularity all over France. His designs shuffled from being Art Nouveau styled to chunky and more modern style. 

'Bacchants' 

'Victoire'

'Moissac'

References: 

- InfoLinks, 2014, ‘Art of the 20^th Century – Rene Lalique’ [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/lalique1.html [Accessed at: 20 January 2014]

- Charlotte and Peter Fiell (2005) Rene Lalique. In: Design of the 20th Century: London, pp. 402.