Muller Frères: From Art Nouveau to Art Deco

 Last week, the post was about Émile Gallé, an artist, designer and innovator in the time of Art Nouveau. He trained many who want to intern in the art of glass. Amongst these interns were the members of the Muller family.

Muller siblings were many, lead by Henri Muller, who left Gallé with 4 of his brothers to start a glass company of their own. In time, they were joined by a sister and 3 more brothers to make "Muller Frères" a family glass business.

At first, with the influence of their mentor, they designed Art Nouveau glass items. In time, with the beginning of the Art Deco era in the 1920 to 1930s, they created electric light sconces, desk lamps and overhead lighting along with vases and other furnishings. However, they're best remembered for their lamps and chandeliers.

With the start of WW1 and the death of a brother, the business was shut down. The siblings came back together after the war. The family team would go on to great success through the 1920s. Alas, the Great Depression would hit their business hard and the factory stopped production in 1933. 

One thing that's important in writing this blog is to try to give a sense of the artists' body of work.In addition their original Art Deco lighting designs, I've included a few of their gorgeous vases.    

 

Anton Seder: Major Designer of Art Nouveau

 Art Nouveau was very popular art form inspired by natural forms that began in 1890. It was the most popular from then until 1910.The style was represented by flattened and abstract objects with sinuous and flowing forms. 

A highly recognized artist, designer and art professor in this form was Anton Seder (1850-1916). He was born in Munich, Germany and trained as a painter, sculptor and architect. Later, he became the first director of the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, founded in 1890, in Strasbourg, Alsace. (now France)

Three years after becoming the director, Seder would submit the winning design for a new building to house the school. It is a beautiful campus and the building looks quite imposing. Here's a couple of photographs to try and capture his hand in Art Nouveau. (If you're a fan of this art form, you might enjoy visiting there on your travels.)

 

 

Besides Seder's teaching and his design for the school, he was also involved in gold and iron works for a church and wrote at least 10 books in 11 years! His books are still available and as recently as 2020 there was a calendar printed of his Art Nouveau designs.

Alas, post WW1, there was a shift in the "modern" style of art towards Art Deco. In many ways, it's the opposite of Art Nouveau with its geometric patterns and Asian influences. Seder would live long enough to be criticized as his work went out of style, but not long enough for him to evolve. He was such a brilliant man, one can only wonder what he might have done.

 

 

Beautiful Auto Sculptures: The Hood Ornaments

The other night I was watching "Antique Road Show." The show featured a collection of car hood ornaments. Some were really beautiful sculptures made by famous artists such as crystal ones designed by Rene Lalique.

There was a time in manufacturing when something so utilitarian as a hood ornament (They were originally thermometers to track radiator temperatures.)was embellished as part of the culture of beauty.

Here are a few designs from the cars of 1920-30s art deco era with animals and figures of Greek gods and goddesses:








In the 1940-50s, interest was in aviation as shown in these images:




Today, there are still a few luxury cars with hood ornaments, but most cars display only the logo of the manufacturer. Should you decide to have a special hood ornament designed for your car, there is one surviving design company - Louis Lejeune Ltd, England, established 1910.

I imagine it would cost more to make a custom hood ornament than most of today's cars are worth. You could look at it as an investment in the future. After all, some day that ornament may show up on a collectible show and astonish your heirs with its value. While you're thinking that prospect over, here are a few other beautiful hood ornaments:

Victor Horta and the Whiplash Curve

In this blog, I have written about painters, sculptors, and printers but never about architects. It was not an oversight. It was because many avant garde architects such as Gaudi and Gehring have been widely recognized. Then, I came across Victor Horta (1861-1947) who has been called, "the key European Art Nouveau Architect."

Born in Ghent, Belgium, Horta was educated in music, art, design and architecture. Early in his career, he began to work with iron and glass - often thought of as hard and angular materials. Horta designs wove them into sinuous shapes for both the exterior and interior.

He designed a few houses, but quickly moved on to designing public buildings. His signature design was the whiplash curves which you can see in the photos here. These have a certain feeling of plant tendrils and became part of

the description of the Art Nouveau period.

After WWI, Horta moved from the curving, sweeping style to a more geometrical one. This evolution would lead to Art Deco and Modernism. However, modernist felt no connection to Horta's Art Nouveau style. Several buildings were demolished in the 1960s.

UNESCO stepped in and preserved some of Horta's houses and buildings as World Heritage Sites. We are lucky to have these beautiful designs. So, if you're ever in Belgium...