Rene Lalique - Artist and designer - his life his work and his art.

The Art of Rene Lalique.
Lalique Marks
Emille Galle
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Collecting Antique Glass

Lalique Glass For Sale

The life of rene lalique and his artistic career covered the three most important movements in the field of decorative arts - arts and crafts, art nouveau and art deco.

Rene Lalique was born René Jules Lalique in Ay, France on April 6, 1860, He became an iconic glass designer, especially noted for his stunning creations which, included perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks and car bonnet ornaments.

The company he founded in 1885, still operates and its creations are still sought after by the modern collector. His beautiful jewellery designs and stunning glasswork contributed significantly to the art nouveau movement.

Recognising her son's artistic talent, his mother steered him at the age of 16 to an apprenticeship with the famous Paris jeweler, Louis Aucoc. By the age of 21, Lalique was creating his own original jewellery.

From 1878-1880 he attended Sydenham Art College in London, and on returning to France, he worked for Aucoq, Cartier, Boucheron and others.

In 1882 he became a freelance designer for several top jewellery houses in Paris and four years later established his own jewellery workshop.

By 1890, Lalique was recognized as one of France's foremost art nouveau jewellery designers; creating innovative pieces for Samuel Bing's new Paris shop, La Maison de l'Art Nouveau.

He went on to be one of the most famous in his field, his name is now synonymous with creativity and quality.

In the 1920s he became famous for his work in the Art Deco style and among other things he was responsible for the walls of lighted glass and the elegant glass columns that filled the dining room and grand salon of the SS Normandie.

Much of his jewellery is exquisitely delicate, and depicts natural forms like flowers, leaves and seed pods. His pieces often had little or no intrinsic value as he didn't use large gemstones in his work.

He refined the use of glass in jewellery, not as imitation diamonds or other precious stones, but as a painter uses paint.

Rene lalique master glass maker.

Lalique had experimented with glass in his jewellery making and at 50 years of age he embarked on a new career as a glassmaker. A career that would gain him the worldwide recognition that continues today.

In 1907 lalique opened a shop near the business of the famous perfumier Francois Coty.

He began creating classic glass perfume bottles for Coty and, eventually he was asked to do the same for Worth, Forvil, D'Orsay, Guerlain, Rogeret et Gallet. In all, Lalique created more than 250 different perfume bottles.

Although most sell for modest prices, in 1990, a Lalique perfume bottled fetched $80,000 at auction. A few years ago, a L'ldylle flacon sold for $58,350 at the Philips Geneva flacon auction, and a Japanese bidder paid $8,625 for a Lalique Bochon Fleurs de Pommiers design at a William Doyle Galleries auction in New York.

Reneé Lalique sought to bring art into everyday life by mass producing stemware, tableware, inkwells, clocks, chandeliers, and vases.

At the height of glass production, his factories employed up to 600 people and created millions of pieces of glassware.

But despite his mechanised approach to production, the imagination and beauty of his work is unparalled. He personalized much of his work with frosting, polishing, and glazing to give it that handcrafted and individual feel.

Rather than create a few pieces that could only be enjoyed by the wealthy lalique mass produced his work in the hope that everyone could enjoy it.

In the 1920's lalique turned his hand to decorating the bonnets of cars and in line with his love of the human and animal form, lalique created 29 car mascots in the shapes of fish, horse heads, frogs, dragonflys, shooting stars and St. Christopher Carrying the Christ Child. Female nudes were also a favorite design.

Lalique designed all the mascots to be illuminated from within and a 6 or 12 volt bulb was connected to the cars wiring to provide illumination. Filters were also used to change the color of the light to red, blue, green, amber, or mauve.

Lalique mascots ornamented the hoods of the most stylish cars of the day ­ Bentley, Hispano Suiza, Isotta Fraschini, and Bugatti. Today, lalique hood ornaments are highly sought after by collectors.

But nowhere in all his work in glass is Renee Lalique more renowned than for hs vases.

His true talent shines in the amber, plum, blue, opalescent, gray, green, black, and yellow hues he obtained by meticulously adding measured amounts of pigment to darkened glass.

Striking animal figures, mythical beasts, and geometric shapes poured from his fertile mind.

The art deco style in laliques jewellery followed through to his work in glass and, distinct geometric designs, smooth flowing lines, and vibrant colors are all characteristic patterns and qualities of lalique glass.

Today, museums around the world feature rene lalique glass.

For the new collector, the two most important considerations are authenticity and condition ; chips, repairs, ground down edges, drill holes will all reduce value. The condition can reduce the value in extreme cases by up to 90%.

As for authenticity, there is very little worry about known Lalique designs being faked. But there is a very big problem with modern Czech glass bearing Lalique signatures. eBay sellers list czech glass in large volumes as Lalique. You can also see less valuable French glass of the 1920s with a Lalique signature."

Lalique used mass production techniques to make his work available and affordable to people in most income brackets. Literally millions of pieces have been created since the early 1900s, and Lalique factories continue to produce fine glass and crystal today.

In the 1940s, World War II forced the closure of his factory.+

He died in 1945 before it could be re-opened.

After his death, laliques son Marc re-started the company and in 1948, he changed production from demi-crystal to full lead crystal.

Lalique's granddaughter, Marie-Claude, later led the company and implemented her own style with clear crystal accented with colored motifs.

The pre-WWII lalique pieces are the most highly sought after by collectors.

Lalique marked his work, even the mass-produced pieces R. Lalique. However, the signature can be found in molded, script, print, and curved designs.

In addition the leading L in the earlier cursive Lalique signatures has a curleyque on top, making the letter resemble an S.

Lalique used too many signatures in too many ways to allow for a definitive guide as to what was made before or after 1945.

The pieces created by Marc Lalique are signed Lalique France

The pieces created by Marie-Claude are signed Lalique h France.

If you're looking to add to your Lalique glass collection, why not have a flick through our Lalique Glass for sale section.