Nancy - Daum Glass in the Musée des Beaux-Arts

Vase aux hirondelles 1897

Lillian :  As promised in our last post, in this one we will show you some of the utterly gorgeous Daum glass-ware in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy. 
Audrey :  Apparently Nancy's Museum of Fine Arts is one of the oldest museums in France.  It is in one of the lovely buildings around the edge of the Place Stanislas.  But more about that in another post - this one is all about their wonderful collection of Daum Glass.


Lillian :  The Daum Studio is still making beautiful things from glass, and is still based in Nancy.  The company was founded in 1878 by Jean Daum and his sons Auguste and Antonin were very active in the Art Nouveau movement and l'Ecole de Nancy.

Audrey :  That lovely tall vase has sweet little birdies flying around it - we call those birds Swallows, the French name is l'hirondelle - and you don't pronounce the H.

Lillian :   I'll attempt to translate the label for this vase - "blown glass mold, acid etched, enhanced with painting in enamel and gold".

Audrey :  That sounds very complicated and extremely clever.  Let's see more lovely Art Nouveau glass vases - this one with wasps and daisies is similar in shape and colour to the one with the birdies.





Lillian :   We forgot to note what the label said about this dragonfly vase - but the body of the  dragonfly looks as if it were applied, and that mottled, dappled look is usually made by sprinkling powdered material onto the hot glass. 




Audrey :  I've looked up the French word for the dragonfly - la libellule.  Those Art Nouveau artists liked their insects, like this cicada or la cigale.

Cruche aux épis de blé et à la cigale 1905

Lillian :  That beautiful ewer made us think of the Summer time; with its ears of wheat, delphiniums, poppies and that blue cicada.  From the label ... "mold blown glass, multilayer, acid etched, painting with enamel, enhanced with gold and applications".


Audrey :   Multilayer?

Lillian :  Hmm, we'll I'm no expert but sometimes they used several layers of glass in different colours and then they could etch back to reveal the colours underneath. 

I think this vase with narcissus is made with multiple layers of glass that were then etched.   


Perhaps this tiger-lily vase too ...





The Daum brothers were very clever - they won a 'Grand Prix' at l'Exposition universelle de Paris, 1900.  They also collaborated with, and employed other talented artists including Jacques Gruber, Henri Bergé and Amalric Walter.

Amalric Walter is most associated with the pâte de verre (glass paste) process,  a revival of an ancient Egyptian technique.  Daum still use pâte de verre to make some of their pieces.

Audrey :  That's a bit mind-boggling - using such an ancient technique ...

Lillian : Well, when you think about it, making glass is basically the same today as it was in ancient times ... you take silica (quartz sand), add a few things to it such as lime (from limestone) and potash and then you super-heat it until it melts.  The Alsace/Lorraine region has produced glass-ware for centuries - perhaps because the area had (still has) plentiful forests, water and very white (so not many impurities) limestone and sand.  Baccarat crystal is another glass-maker still in production and Baccarat is just to the South-East of Lorraine.

Let's see more flowers -  tulips, 

Crocuses and Cœur de Jeannette ...

Vase aux Cœur de Jeannette 1910

Audrey :  Oh!   that's the flower that we found in Avallon - we hadn't seen it before.  The English call this flower 'Dutchman's trousers' but I think I prefer the name - Heart of Jeannette.

Audrey :  This was my favourite vase - Red Poppies.  (you can see the other side in the photo of the Tiger-lily vase above)

Vase aux pavots rouges 1923

Lillian :  Translating the label for the lovely poppy vase ... "mold blown glass, multilayer, acid etched ... hammered"  this vase has a metal base ... 
Audrey :  Excuse me - you said it was "hammered" ?   But this is glass, you can't go about hitting beautiful glass vases with a hammer! 
Lillian :  Well, perhaps the glass is still hot and not quite hardened when they do it ... if you look closely there is a dimpled effect in the glass. 
Audrey : I wonder how many lovely things didn't quite make it through all the processes and techniques they used in order to make one vase.

Lillian :  Well, here are some examples of another technique that the Daum Frères used to great effect - application of glass 'bubbles' and 'dribbles'.



Audrey :  Very different styles there - the 'grape' vase is earlier than the others.





Lillian :  Yes - and here are some very Art Deco pieces ...

Lampe rectangulaire 1930

This tall vase is encased in metalwork.  The yellow lamp is mold-blown and engraved with acid. 

Audrey : That yellow looks almost edible.










Lillian :  The colour, clarity and sparkle of this mid-century vase was amazing.
 







Audrey :  This bowl is quite recent - 1987 - and the cactus (it looks like prickly pear Opuntia)  is made with the pâte de verre technique.

 

Lillian :  Our last photo for this post is a close up of an Art Nouveau, bowl.  Beautifully decorated with toadstools. 

 

 Audrey :  In our next post we'll be exploring some of the other things in Nancy's Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Nancy Art Nouveau houses in Saurupt

Lillian :  At the tourist office in Nancy you can hire an Audio guide to their Art Nouveau architecture, and if you follow the instructions without getting too lost, you'll see lovely buildings and hear all about them.  It is excellent value though it does feel a little strange to wander about the streets with an Audio guide held to your ear - they are just like the ones you hire in Art Galleries!  

Part of the Audio tour took us into the suburbs of Nancy - to Saurupt to see some really gorgeous Art Nouveau houses.


This is the Villa Henri-Emmanuel Lang (1905-1906), the architect was Lucien Weissenburger.

Audrey :  It is all the details that make these houses so lovely ...  and like us, those Art Nouveau artistes liked towers and turrets.


Audrey :  They also liked wonderfully fancy chimneys.










Lillian :  This villa has lots of different wall treatments - render, dressed stone, rough stone for the outer wall & striped brickwork.

The Entry

Brickwork, tiles & lead-light

Round the side - this bow window with a balcony on top and fantastic wood-work.

 

Audrey :  Reminds me of a pirate ship somehow ...


Well the next house we saw was the Villa Marguerite, 1903-05 - the architects were Joseph Hornecker (he also designed Nancy's Opera House)  & Henri Gutton.






 



Lillian :  A tower, balconies and just about every shape of window you can think of!
















Audrey :  Such pretty iron-work and an oval port-hole.

Audrey :  French cyclists ... in front of the next Villa on the tour

 This dates from 1902 - 04, designed by Émile André.

Glycine is French for Wisteria - but the Wisteria was across the road - growing all over the Villa Les Roches ...

Lillian :  Trans. The Rocks - appropriate as the walls of this house are of undressed stone.  Émile André. was the architect of this house too - it is very different from its 'sister' across the road.

Gate Post

Lillian :  Les Roches had a painted frieze under the eaves - unfortunately now rather faded.






 Audrey :  Our people looked for this last building for ages and had given up trying to find it when ... there it was!

Maison Geschwindammer, 1905, by Henri Gutton & Joseph Hornecker (like the Villa Marguerite).

It has gorgeous mosaic - with golden tiles.

 

Iron-work at main door-way

another Door-way

Lillian :  The details as you look up - from that main door-way

Painted Detail

Lillian :  This is the  balcony in front of the window that is framed by the lovely mosaic - ceramic (I think) with poppy heads.   In our next post we'll show some more architectural details - some Art Nouveau, some Art Deco ...

Nancy - rue Henri Poincaré

Lillian :  In this post we are going to show you photos of 2 rather well known Art Nouveau buildings in rue Henri Poincaré, Nancy.

Audrey :  This wonderful building is the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie - all pale limestone and teal painted ironwork.


Lillian :  Built in 1908, the architects were Émile Toussaint et Louis Marchal - the marvelous iron work by Louis Majorelle.

Detail from the door

Audrey :   It is a big governmental building - we took photos of  some of the lovely details...

Audrey  :  Oak leaves & acorns because "From little things big things grow..."

Agriculture written beautifully - and is it plane tree leaves & fruit?

Quite lovely & slightly Egyptian?

 Audrey :  And that is a thistle made to look quite beautiful, even though really it is a prickly pesky plant - and an industrious agriculturalist would surely be busy trying to rid his farm of thistles! 
Lillian :  But remember - the thistle is one of the heraldic symbols of Lorraine, and Nancy.  The motto is "No one touches me with impunity".
 Audrey :  Well that is definitely true of thistles!

Lillian :  But now back to the building - the Chamber of Commerce & Industry.  There are lovely stained glass windows by that remarkably industrious member of l'école de Nancy - Jacques Gruber.


And these windows would be much better photographed from the inside - then you could see the details of the staining & painting on the glass.  **  edited to add:  I've found a photo of The Scientist window from the inside **  The first window shows nature - perhaps the edge of a forest near Nancy.


The next window has a town on a river or harbour.






 Then we have some industrious people. 

a Scientist

a Miner

 

And a glass blower.  Glass making was & still is an important industry for Nancy and the region - Daum is still making beautiful glass pieces and Baccarat crystal is still made in the town of Baccarat, just to the Sth East of Nancy.

  Audrey :  Well - back to the Art Nouveau architecture because just down the road from the Chamber of Commerce is l'Excelsior

and it certainly excels in architecture & interior design!  If only one could take a Tardis back in time and see this lovely place full of beautifully dressed ladies & gents from 1911 when the brasserie was brand new. 

Lillian : Our people were too shy to take many photos inside but if you click on the link above - there is a "panoramic" in the section "L'Ame du lieu".



The ceiling is just gorgeous with bracken fern fronds in every corner.

Lillian :  Here are some details from the outside - the architects were
Lucien Weissemburger & Alexandre Mienville.

 

Audrey :  The awning is decorated with pine leaves and glass pine-cones.   They looked as if made of opal and the photo doesn't really do them justice.

Lillian :  The stained glass windows are the work of .. guess who ...
Audrey :  Jacques Gruber.  Delicate ginkgo biloba ...

pine and fern fronds.

Lillian :   Here is the detail of one of the light fittings - outside the windows.  Once again - the attention to every gorgeous detail is stunning.

Audrey :  And - across the road from l'Excelsior there is a wonderful chocolatier & confiserie  (trans: fabulous lolly shop) where our people bought lots of Bergamot lollies ... totally delicious.

Audrey :  But let's look at all the yummy things in the windows of the confiserie.  The pretty coloured chocolates at the top are labeled "chardons liqueur" - liquor thistles!    And because we were in Nancy at Easter time (2011) there were some easter eggs and bunnies but there were far more chocolate fish & even a lobster - beautifully detailed with coloured chocolate. 

 Lillian :  The Chocolate Fish are not really for Easter - they are Poisson d'Avril (April fish).  From a popular April Fool's Day prank when children (mostly) try to stick paper fish on the backs of as many people as possible.

Audrey :  Ok - well - here is a display of Mirabelles - glace mirabelles and mirabelles made from marzipan ...
Lillian :  Mirabelles are a small yellow plum and a specialty of the Lorraine region - especially Metz and Nancy.  Our photographer had a meal with Mirabelles in everything except the entree - as an aperitif a Kir Mirabelle (wine with Mirabelle liquor), the main course was pork with Mirabelle sauce, desert was some wonderful nougat ice-cream with Mirabelle coulis and the coffee had some of that Mirabelle liquor in it. 

Audrey : And we thought that in Lorraine people ate only quiche!   Come to think of it - we didn't even see a Quiche Lorraine and we were in Nancy for 6 days!  The closest to a quiche was this piece of frittata that we bought from a bakery for lunch one day.  It was massive & exceptionally cheap & tasted wonderful.