Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is derived from a Paris gallery called 'Maison de L'Art Nouveau', which played a role in displaying and popularizing this style. Emile Galle, Louis C. Tiffany, the Daum brothers, Muller, Freres, Loetz, Rene Lalique, Charles and Ernest Schneider etc. are some of the most representative artists.

The works of Emile Gallé had a major influence on the Art Nouveau movement. Clear and enameled or stratified, applied, engraved, acid etched or wheel-carved, his glass was very elaborate. Nature inspired his designs, which were mostly floral, some with foliage, or landscape decorations and some with a strong Japanese feeling. He developed a technique for the production of cut and incised flashed glass and enameled designs, enhanced by bright colors and transparency of the material. The technique was difficult and resource intensive, the creation process could take several days (sometimes weeks) and the combined effort of glass blowers, painters and forgers, but the pieces attracted worldwide admiration and demand.

During the reign of Carol the 1st of Romania, the Royal Manufacture’s chief glassmaker sent Emerico Montesy to study the art of multi-layered glass in the Galle and Daum frères workshops. At his return to Romania, he became the Artistic Director of the Azuga Glass Factory and implemented the new techniques towards creating his own art pieces (mainly for the Royal court). Ever since then (for more than 90 years), the Romanian glass craftsmen kept and improved the original Galle techniques, the pieces produced in their workshops still carrying the unique charisma, the brilliant decors and an uncompromised quality of execution.

Presently, the Art Nouveau/Art Deco glassware is still manufactured in Romania, where different artists try to bring their own contribution to a style that will never go out of fashion. Less