École de Nancy, or the Nancy School, was a group of Art Nouveau artisans and designers working in

Nancy, France Nancy ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Nanzisch'' is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the northeastern Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was Lorraine and Barrois, an ...

between 1890 and 1914. Major figures included the furniture designer

Louis Majorelle Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, usually known simply as Louis Majorelle, (26 September 1859 – 15 January 1926) was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the ''ébéniste''. ...

, ebonist and glass artist

Jacques Grüber Jacques Grüber (25 January 1870 – 15 December 1936) was a French woodworker and glass artist. Grüber was born in Sundhouse (Alsace). After starting his training at the , where he would later be a teacher, he followed his learning with Gusta ...

, the glass and furniture designer

Émile Gallé Émile Gallé (8 May 1846 in Nancy – 23 September 1904 in Nancy) was a French artist and designer who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major innovators in the French Art Nouveau movement. He was noted for his designs of ...

, and the crystal manufactory of Daum. Their work was largely inspired by floral and vegetal forms found in the region. The goal of the group was to produce in series ordinary objects, such as furniture, glassware, and pottery, with fine craftsmanship and in original forms, making art objects available for people's homes.

History

The Nancy School emerged from dramatic events in the history of

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

, which had become a province of France in 1776. After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, neighboring

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

and a large part of Lorraine were ceded to the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, but Nancy remained inside France. The division resulted in a large exodus of French artists, artisans, teachers, and businessmen from German-occupied Lorraine to Nancy. The population of Nancy grew to 100,000, making it the largest city in Eastern France, and the city became the economic, political, and cultural center of the region. It became a center for the manufacture of textiles, leather, beer, glass, and ceramics. Because of its strategic importance near the German frontier, it also had excellent transportation connections to Paris and the rest of France. The Nancy School was formally organized in 1901 by a group of young craftsmen in the city. It had existed informally since 1894, when a group of artists participated in the new Lorraine Society of Decorative Arts. The new group was led by

. The group participated with great success in the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900. Gallé particularly urged artists to return to nature as their principal source of inspiration. The formal goals of the School, published on February 13, 1901, declared that it was "A provincial alliance of the industries of art". It was to organize expositions and artists' workshops, to encourage the reform of artistic education, and to adapt the arts to industrial methods of production. The manifesto of the school declared that utility should be the chief requirement of the work created, and that they should be designed, as much as possible, after the natural flora of Lorraine, especially

ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and is now the only living genus with ...

, pennywort,

giant hogweed ''Heracleum mantegazzianum'', commonly known as giant hogweed, is a monocarpic perennial herbaceous plant in the carrot family Apiaceae. ''H. mantegazzianum'' is also known as cartwheel-flower, giant cow parsley, giant cow parsnip, or hogs ...

, water lily,

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

gourd Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and ''Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earli ...

, and creatures such as

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

. The members of the founding committee were

, Jean-Antonin Daum, and ebenist and furniture designer

Eugène Vallin Eugène Vallin (1856 – 21 July 1922) was a French furniture designer and manufacturer, as well as an architect. Life and career Vallin was born at Herbéviller, and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy. He was apprenticed in the stu ...

Glassware and crystal

Glassware and crystal were arts for which Nancy became particularly known. The glassmaker Jean Daum emigrated to France in 1878 and started his own studio, Daum Glass, which was inherited by his two sons, Antonin Daum and his brother

Auguste Daum Jean Louis Auguste Daum (1853 in Bitche – 1909 in Nancy) was a French ceramist, in glass. He was one of the founder members of École de Nancy and the director of Daum studio. He was the son of Jean Daum, brother of Antonin Daum and father o ...

. They guided the company into the Art Nouveau. The Daum brothers expressed their goal at the end of the 1880s: "to apply in an industrial way the true principles of decorative art." Their method was to produce objects in series, as well as one-of-a-kind items, and they adapted well to the new technology of electric light bulbs. The vases and lamps usually had very simple designs taken from plants or vegetables, with monochrome or richly varied colors of many different layers of glass within the lamp. File:Lamp-Daum-BMA.jpg, Daum lamp with trees and fallen snow (c. 1900) File:Cristallerie daum, vaso iris, nancy 1900 ca.JPG, Daum crystal vase with iris flowers (c. 1900) Vase Daum.jpg, Daum vase with cricket design (1900) File:Bonbonnière aux bleuets (musée des beaux-arts de Nancy).jpg, Daum Bonbon container with cornflower design of engraved glass, enamel, and gold by Daum (1901) File:Antonin daum e louis majorelle, lampade a tre braccia magnolia, 1903, 01.jpg, Daum lamp with Magnolia flowers, designed with

(1903) File:Antonin daum, vaso tulipani, 1910 ca.jpg, Tulip vase by Antonin Daum (1910) The other major figure in glass art in Nancy was

. The work of Gallé was greatly varied, with a rich assortment of colors, designs, and materials, including glass, ceramics, crystal,

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

, and

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ad ...

. He experimented with different materials and a technique known as glass ''marqueterie'', introducing into the hot glass pieces of different colored glass, powdered glass, metal, or gold. He was also very interested in Japanese art, borrowing techniques which he used to accomplish his own goals. The critic Henri Franz wrote of Gallé in 1897, that while he used Japanese techniques, "nothing is farther from Japanese art. He only borrowed the expressions of Japanese art and remade them with skill and taste. Nature offered him an inexhaustible source of inspiration... When Gallé represented a plant, his immense artistic sensibility reduced it to its essence." File:Coupe Bégonia rose.jpg, Begonia Rose cup by

(1894) File:Bud Vase (France), ca. 1900 (CH 18482741-2).jpg, Bud vase by

(1900) File:Vase Orchidée.jpg, Orchid vase by

(1897) File:Vase with branches of orchids Emile Gallé.jpg, Orchid branch vase by

(1900)

Furniture

Furniture design and manufacture was another important art and industry in Nancy. The city had a large number of skilled artisans, many coming from German-occupied Alsace. The furniture designers worked closely with artists in other crafts, such as glassware and textiles. The most important figure in the furniture of Nancy was

. At the age of twenty, with the death of his father, though he had planned to be a painter and artist, he took over the family business making furniture and ceramics. He was strongly influenced by the ideas of

and was a founding member of the Nancy School. With the ideas of the school in mind, he oriented the furniture produced by his company away from traditional designs and toward the Art Nouveau. In the 1890s many of the Majorelle works were designed by his collaborators,

and Camille Gauthier. Majorelle often worked in collaboration with the Nancy glass designer

. In 1898 a prominent Nancy architect, Lucien Weissemburger, joined his firm. More and more, however, he made his own designs. He designed not only woodwork, but also the fittings and decoration in bronze and other metals, and also made decorative ironwork. His ironwork creations included the elegant Art Nouveau stairway railing of the

Galeries Lafayette The Galeries Lafayette () is an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris but it now operates in a number of other locations in France and oth ...

Department Store in Paris (1900). His work had great success at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900. During this period, he presented finely-crafted furniture made of dark

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

snakewood Snakewood is a common name of several different plants: * '' Acacia'' species (family Fabaceae) in Australia, '' Acacia eremaea'', '' Acacia intorta'', ''Acacia xiphophylla' * ''Brosimum guianense'' (= ''Piratinera guianensis'') (family Moraceae) ...

, and hazel wood contrasting with the gilded bronze and hammered copper ornaments inspired by natural forms, such as water lilies. His water lily bed (1902–03), now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, is a classic example of this style. Another is the Orchid Desk (1903–05), made of

, ornamented with sculpted and chiseled bronze and copper. File:Meuble dEmile Gallé (musée des arts décoratifs) (4734600691).jpg, Cabinet of ash wood, oak and poplar, with marquetry of colored woods and sculpted bronze, by

presented at the 1900 Paris Exposition (1900), Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris File:Majorelle Bed.jpg, The "Water Lily" bed by

(1902-1903), Musée d'Orsay, Paris File:Détail du lit "Nénuphars" de Louis Majorelle (musée dOrsay) (3338737145).jpg, Detail of the "Water Lily" bed by Louis Majorelle, Musée d'Orsay, Paris File:Majorelle-Desk.jpg, Orchid Desk by

(1903–04), made of

, gilded bronze and copper, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Stained glass

Stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

was another Art Nouveau specialty in Nancy. The best-known artists were

Émile André François-Émile André (August 22, 1871 – March 10, 1933) was a French architect, artist, and furniture designer. He was the son of the architect of Charles André and the father of two other architects, Jacques and Michel André. Life ...

, and

, who often worked together on projects, and often worked with Majorelle, Daum, and the other Nancy designers.Fahr-Becker (2013) pg. 129 File:Émile andrè, ed eugéne vallin, porta di un camerino dei magasing françois vaxelaire et cie, nancy 1901 (vetrata di jacques gruber).JPG, Doors with stained glass for the Store of Francois Vaexlaire in Nancy (1901), glass by

, doors by Émile Andrè and Eugéne Vallin File:F54-NANCY verrière-Gruber-Crédit-Lyonnais.jpg, Skylight of Crédit-Lyonnais bank in Nancy by

(1901) File:Aquarium de l'Ecole de Nancy 04 by Line1.jpg, "Aquarium" window by

(1907) (Musée de l'École de Nancy) (1904) File:Vitrail de Jacques Gruber (musée de lEcole de Nancy) (7932913588).jpg, "Luffa and Water Lily" Window by

(1907–08) Musée de l'Ecole de Nancy) File:Villa Majorelle fenètre 02 by Line1.jpg, Window of the

Villa Majorelle The Villa Majorelle is a house located at 1 rue Louis-Majorielle in the city of Nancy, France, which was the home and studio of the furniture designer Louis Majorelle. It was designed and built by the architect Henri Sauvage in 1901-1902. The vi ...

(1907–08) File:Jacques gruber, vetrata, 1908-09 ca.JPG, Window by

(1908–09), Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Architecture - the Villa Majorelle

Nancy contains a number of Art Nouveau houses and buildings created and decorated by Majorelle and other School members. The best-known is the

, the residence of

. It was constructed between 1901 and 1902, the peak of the Art Nouveau period, by the young Paris architect

Henri Sauvage Henri Sauvage (May 10, 1873 in Rouen – March 21, 1932 in Paris) was a French architect and designer in the early 20th century. He was one of the most important architects in the French Art nouveau movement, Art Deco, and the beginning of ar ...

, with furniture and decoration by the members of the School of Nancy. After the death of Majorelle, most of the furnishings were sold and dispersed. Some, including the bedroom furniture, can now be seen in the

Musée de l'École de Nancy The Musée de l'École de Nancy is a museum devoted to the École de Nancy, an Art Nouveau movement founded in 1901 by Émile Gallé, Victor Prouvé, Louis Majorelle, Antonin Daum and Eugène Vallin in the city of Nancy in Lorraine, north-eas ...

. File:Villa Majorelle facade.JPG, Facade of the

File:Villa Majorelle Salon 2.JPG, Original interior of the salon (1904) File:Chambre à coucher Majorelle.jpg, Bedroom furniture from the Villa Majorelle, now in the

File:Villa Majorelle dining room windows.JPG, Dining room windows by

File:Detail Ceramique Murale.jpg, Ceramic facade decoration by Alexandre Bigot

Notable collections in museums

Museums that have important collections of works from the École de Nancy include: *

Nancy * Musée d'Orsay, Paris * Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Notes and citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

École de Nancy website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole de Nancy Art Nouveau Education in Nancy, France Art schools in France French art movements