Lalique Necklace for the 1890s

Loretta reports:

René Lalique might be familiar to most of us for his beautiful glass work. However, as we’ve shown before, this artist designed jewelry to the same high standard.

I’ve visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts several times, and wandered in a sort of ecstatic trance through the Art Nouveau and Art Deco collection. But the museum offers so much that I can always count on finding a  remarkable something I somehow overlooked or hadn't time to study previously.
This ca. 1897 Lalique necklace, one of numerous stunning gifts from Sydney and Frances Lewis,

is late 19th century (earlier than the collar linked to above). I think it’s a wonderful example of the work created during the Belle Époque.

Here again is the Art Nouveau emphasis on natural forms, with a rather sparing use of gemstones—emphasis on art and design, in other words, rather than sparkle. It may also  owe something to ancient styles of jewelry I’ve seen in museums—it reminded me of necklaces found in ancient Egyptian tombs.

Pomegranate

You can see a sharper image, and zoom in, here, on the museum website.

For more on Lalique, you might want to check out this past exhibition at the Corning Museum.

Necklace & description card photographed by me.
Botanical print of pomegranate from Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885, Gera, Germany via Wikipedia.

Clicking on the image will enlarge it.  Clicking on the caption will take you to the source, where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.

Those Tiny 1890s Waists & What Adorned Them

Loretta reports:

Following up a little on the Belle Èpoque video—

My most recent trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts had me taking a closer look at the Kreuzer collection of belt buckles from the late 19th & early 20th centuries and, in particular, information about the collection. The printed placard offers a good example of the difference between engraved images of fashion and real people wearing them. I think this contrast is pretty stark, and it would be more so if these weren’t models but average women, who would probably be a bit more full-figured. Then, as always, models tended to represent a fashionable ideal rather than reality, though not as extremely as the images on the catalog page.

Previously I’ve posted a garnet belt buckle as well as other objects from the VMFA’s outstanding collection, including sporting prints, Art Nouveau furniture, Art Nouveau & Art Deco jewelry (here and here), and decorative objects. These are only small samples of the offerings. The VMFA is a splendid museum, well worth a visit—or several.

Please click on images to enlarge.

Belt Buckles for Gilded Age Wasp Waists

Loretta reports:

Not long ago I read Consuelo Vanderbilt’s The Glitter and the Gold, which had me thinking about Gilded Age fashions.  We’ve looked at the wasp waists more than once, mainly in connection with the tight corseting of the Victorian era.  Belts often encircled and called attention to those tiny waists, sometimes with beautifully crafted belt buckles, of which the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has a splendid collection.

This gold and garnet buckle is one fine example, dating from about 1899.

The nickel and silver glass paste buckle, with its strange face and the wide open mouth, is something completely different.  It’s about ten years later, and looks less Victorian and more Art Nouveau.

Can you picture the sort of woman who’d wear one of these? My guess is that it would not be the same woman!

Buckle # 1, by K.K. Faschschule für Edelsteinschleifer, Edelsteingravure, Goldschmeiede und Juweliere, Bohemian (Turneau), founded 1884.

Buckle #2, by Kirschgaessner und Kraft, German (Pforzheim), founded 1902.

Marie Kröyer

Painting: Peder Severin Kröyer, Portrait of the artist´s wife: Marie Kröyer (1901) courtesy Wikipedia


Clicking on the image will enlarge it.  Clicking on the captions will allow you to read at the source, where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.

A Tiffany Punch Bowl

Loretta reports:

I thought it was time for another spectacular item from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection of Art Nouveau works.  We’ve looked at furniture, jewelry, and more jewelry.

Today I present for your viewing pleasure the Tiffany Punch Bowl with Three Ladles.

Some may say it’s over the top—but then, a great deal in this collection falls into that category, and I’m with Mae West:  “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”

Not to mention that anybody who’s taken a gander at the Prince Regent’s decor  at the Royal Pavilion will probably bear this sort of thing with fortitude.

Since the accompanying card had so much interesting information, and Art Nouveau is not my area of expertise, I’ll let the museum do the talking.

But I will say that no photograph can do it justice.  If you're in the Richmond area, I strongly recommend a visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

French Art Nouveau Brooch by Fouquet

Loretta reports:

More jewelry, from the abundance of riches at at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection of Art Nouveau & Art Deco works.  (Previous VMFA posts here, here, and here.)

This brooch* is the work of Georges Fouquet (1862-1957), a Paris goldsmith who worked in both the Art Nouveau and the Art Deco styles.  For a time during his Art Nouveau period, he collaborated with Alphonse Mucha.

You can see a sample of the work from that period here at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art.  Mucha also designed Fouquet’s new showroom in Paris.

Though this brooch is of a later date, it is still very much in the Art Nouveau tradition, and the woman’s face reminds me a bit of the model in the Mucha poster below.

If you’re curious about Fouquet’s Art Deco work (we didn’t have time to linger in the Art Deco collection, alas), here’s an example from the VMFA and here’s one from the Met.

If you could choose between Fouquet’s Art Nouveau and his Art Deco jewelry, which would you rather wear?

*Museum website description: Brooch, 1904, Georges Fouquet (French , 1862 - 1957), gold, enamel, opal, unidentified ivory colored stones, engraved glass, diamonds, pearls 3¾ x 7¾ in. 9.5 x 19.6 cm Gift of Sydney and Frances Lewis

Lalique Collar Necklace

Loretta reports:

Today, jewelry.

As I reported in my post about the amazing Art Nouveau bedroom set at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Sidney and Francis Lewis Galleries had me in a state of swoon.  There’s more furniture, which I hope to present at a future date.  But first I thought you might like a look at one of the several stunning examples of René Lalique’s jewelry—something one doesn't find a lot of online.

I had seen photos of Edwardian era women wearing collar necklaces but this was my first chance to look closely.  This “Umbels Collar” is dated ca. 1901-2, and made of gold, enamel, glass, and diamonds.  As the articles here and here mention, Art Nouveau artists and craftsmen used stylized natural forms.  Here, we’re looking at the flowers of everyday herbs.  But we'll see bugs, birds, and reptiles as well.

Consuelo Vanderbilt was fortunate to have the long, swanlike neck to wear this style successfully.  I’m not sure it’s quite so becoming here. 

Another example of a Lalique collar, but without the chain, is here at Wikipedia.

Art Nouveau Bedroom at the VMFA

Loretta reports:

In addition to my lengthy visit with Catching Sight, the sporting prints exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, I had time to wallow in the Sidney and Francis Lewis galleries.  Among other glories, these house what the New York Times describes as “the most important collection of Art Nouveau outside Paris.”

The collection, of which I now have several hundred pictures, includes jewelry, furniture, household utensils, ceramics, lamps, and stained glass.  Since I’m not an art historian, I’ll not attempt to explain Art Nouveau, its origins and philosophy, but refer you to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Wikipedia entries on the subject,  and take you directly to this showstopper of a bedroom set by Louis Marjorelle.

The set, made about 1905-1908, is of mahogany, rosewood, marquetry of woods, bronze, gilding, and upholstery.

“The suite, among the most important Art Nouveau furniture in the United States, was illustrated in a 1909 French magazine and originally on view at the 1909 International Exhibition of Eastern France in Nancy.   As in a contemporary furniture showroom, a patron at Majorelle’s gallery would select individual objects such as a bed, cabinet, or chair from the showroom floor or an illustrated  catalog.”

The gilded bronze water lilies appear in much of Majorelle's furniture, as seen in a similar bed at the Musée d’Orsay. 

Quoted material is from information provided at the museum.

Catching Sight: The World of the British Sporting Print

Bachelor's Hall: Full Cry

Loretta reports:

My recent travels took me to Richmond, VA.  Naturally, a museum being in the vicinity, I went.

In fact, I visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts every chance I get because (1) it houses a fine collection, with style; (2) its walls always show me something relevant to my areas of research; and (3) its permanent collection includes a breathtaking collection of Art Nouveau furnishings and jewelry, which I’ll share with you in future posts. The restaurant is genius, too, by the way.

It was my good fortune to be in town when Catching Sight: The World of the British Sporting Print was on show.  Many of the works in this exhibition of 18th and 19th century sporting prints belong to the Museum’s collection, but are too fragile to keep on permanent view.  Some were on loan, mainly from the Yale Center for British Art, which also had a tremendous benefactor in Paul Mellon. Among several knockouts—familiar prints made new because they were full size, inches from my face—were Charles Cooper Henderson’s The Olden Time and James Pollard’s Approach to Christmas and Cottagers Hospitality to Travellers.

In and Out Clever

 And then there was Henry Thomas Alken, with whom I’ve become familiar while searching for driving and riding scenes.  Along with some witty views of hunting, his work in the show included a set of six prints titled The High Mettled Racer.  They tell in pictures and verse the story of a thoroughbred, from foal to death, and have proved impossible to find online in this particular iteration, although there are lots of “after Alken” versions, not half so vibrant, to my mind. From the first verse:

He now is all nature, his limbs finely formed,
His mouth never bitted, his whole form unadorned;
 By rich colour’d silks, platted mane, and such stuff,
For a thorough breed Foal is quite handsome enough.

It’s poignant, and since I cry over Little Nell no matter what Oscar Wilde said and no matter how many times I read The Old Curiosity Shop, you can be sure I cried over the horse, right there in the gallery.

If you can get to Richmond, this is a show worth seeing.  If you can’t, the catalog will at least show you tiny versions of this glorious collection of prints.

Illustrations are courtesy the Yale Center for British Art, since the VMFA seems not to have any of their collection online.  Above left:  Francis Calcraft Turner, Bachelor's Hall:  Full Cry (1835 to 1836) courtesy Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.  Below right:  Henry Thomas Alken, In and Out Clever (undated), Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection, Gift of Francis P. Garvan, B.A. 1897 (for Whitney Sporting Art Collection in memory of Harry Payne Whitney, B.A. 1894