Lalique

Review: The Art of Lalique | A Talk With Joy McCall

Joy McCall

15 May 2024

THE ART OF LALIQUE: CONTEMPORARY FINE ART COLLABORATIONS AND NEW FORMS OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION

London Craft Week Event Review
by Joy McCall, Associate Director, Senior Specialist

As part of London Craft Week 2024, our Associate Director Joy McCall, globally renowned expert in Lalique, was joined in conversation with Lalique UK Managing Director Frederick Fischer, in Le Magritte Bar at The Beaumont to discuss the Art of Lalique and its contemporary fine art collaborations on Tuesday 14 May 2024. Here are Joy's reflections on the event.

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It was a pleasure to co-host an evening reception and talk with Frederick Fischer, the UK Manager for Lalique, whom I have known for 22 years. The event took place in Le Magritte Bar at the wonderful five-star Beaumont Hotel in the heart of Mayfair, London and the room was filled to capacity. The attendees were informed and participated in asking questions throughout the evening, creating a relaxed yet vibrant atmosphere.

The main focus of the evening was on the new Magritte Collection launched by Lalique 2023, created at the request of the Magritte Foundation to mark the 125th anniversary of the artist. Three of the four works in the Collection were on display together with a number of pieces from past Lalique and artist collaborations. There was the bowler hat entitled Le Bouchon D’Épouvante, the pipe La Trahison des Images, and the pair of apples, Le Prêtre Marié. Sadly, the giraffe in a wine glass, Le Bain de Cristal, was not on show, because it is currently sold out.

RENÉ MAGRITTE ©SUCCESSION MAGRITTE - PHOTOTHÈQUE R. MAGRITTE ADAGP IMAGES PARIS, 2023

MAGRITTE X LALIQUE

"On the initiative of the Magritte Foundation, the enigmatic and poetic world of René Magritte will be captured in crystal sculptures in this, the year that marks the 125th anniversary of the artist’s birth. In creating such unique and exquisite pieces, Lalique is ensuring that the imaginative power of these original works lives on in the modern era."

- Silvio Denz, Président - Directeur Général, LALIQUE

RENÉ MAGRITTE ©SUCCESSION MAGRITTE - PHOTOTHÈQUE R. MAGRITTE ADAGP IMAGES PARIS, 2023

We considered the meaning of the crystal sculptures and how these iconic motifs from the paintings changed through Magritte’s life and into the present day for us. There was an interesting discussion around the bowler hat and its evolution from being head protection for gamekeepers to being a popular accessory for the upper and middle classes. Magritte felt it provided him with anonymity and he repeatedly used it as a motif. The bowler hat goes from being an object to a depiction in Magritte’s works and now has been transformed back into an object just this time one in crystal.

LE BOUCHON D’ÉPOUVANTE

Of the objects created by Lalique, the bowler hat is the only Magritte work which exists in the form both of a painting and of an object. Created a few days apart, both works are entitled 'Le Bouchon d’Épouvante'. Incidentally, the man in the bowler hat is as evocative of Magritte himself as of his work. The painter used to wear this hat to town, as many photographs affirm.

LE BOUCHON D'ÉPOUVANTE | NUMBERED EDITION | ©SUCCESSION MAGRITTE & LALIQUE

We also thought about how the change in medium effects our reading of the creations. The two apples are similarly fascinating as Magritte painted them many times in various incongruous landscapes, often implying a scale much larger than life, or changed them from being green and depicted them in yellow, blue or red, and on other occasions portrayed them as being concrete. Here we have objects with a rich iconography ranging from an everyday object, to a symbol of temptation and the fall of man, to a tool for illustrating the laws of physics with Archimedes’ and Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of displacement and gravity. Now they are transparent forms to be gazed through. The theme of sight being emphasised by the masks the anthropomorphic apples model but at the same time perhaps they are in disguise and not what they seem. Are they even about to attend a masked carnival or ball? With each of these works what we can say for certain is that they are intended to make us question and review our assumptions; they are about both a poetic and philosophical resonance.

LE PRÊTRE MARIÉ

Magritte also painted at least a dozen pictures of apples wearing masks. He created his first version of an apple in a mask for the cover of View magazine in 1946. Later, his apples sometimes appear as singletons, sometimes in pairs, sometimes under a daytime sky with the title 'La Valse Hésitation' (The Hesitation Waltz), and sometimes under a night sky, in which case they bear the title 'Le Prêtre Marié' (The Married Priest).

LE PRÊTRE MARIÉ | LOST-WAX TECHNIQUE | LIMITED EDITION OF 50 | ©SUCCESSION MAGRITTE & LALIQUE

There is nothing incongruous about Lalique being a feature of London Craft Week. The glass and now crystal created in the Lalique factory in Alsace is anything but production line. Each piece is hand-made and involves multiple artisans undertaking various processes before leaving the factory. It is labour intensive. Also the UK is currently Lalique’s most profitable country. It was also apt to discuss the Magritte collection because in the last couple of years the two highest prices realised for Magritte works at auction were achieved in London.

LE BAIN DE CRISTAL

The giraffe standing tall in a crystal glass is inspired by a gouache entitled 'The Cut-Glass Bath'. Magritte had first conceived this image in 1946 to illustrate a set of poems by Paul Éluard. Lalique’s crystalware captures Magritte’s stylistic essay, specific to his “Renoir period”.

LE BAIN DE CRISTAL | LOST-WAX TECHNIQUE, LIMITED EDITION OF 50 | ©SUCCESSION MAGRITTE & LALIQUE

I was able to briefly review highlights from the last Lalique auction that took place in April with Lyon & Turnbull, London. The top lot of the sale was the cire perdue vase Cénotaphe, Couvercle Roses Vase from 1923. Executed using the lost wax technique, a method more commonly employed for the casting of bronzes, this unique work has exquisite detailing and a wonderful depth of relief from the high petals and stems, through into the varying layers of leaves. It creates a sense of intimacy with the maker as it is covered in finger marks. There is no doubting the craftsmanship and artistry of this piece. Mention was made too of the coloured works which appeared in the 1920s such as the Gros Scarabées and Borromée vases, in jade green and cobalt blue.

LA TRAHISON DES IMAGES

By now, the tobacco pipe image had become famous among the painter’s works thanks to 'La Trahison des Images' (The Treachery of Images), the masterpiece he painted in 1929. 'La Trahison des Images' had a wide and immediate impact, especially in Paris, where Salvador Dalí recorded his enthusiasm in a Spanish journal.

LA TRAHISON DES IMAGES | NUMBERED EDITION | ©SUCCESSION MAGRITTE & LALIQUE

This aspect of the discussion provided an historical context for the modern works, and also nicely led into a discussion as to just how revolutionary and pioneering René Lalique was firstly as a jewellery designer and then as a master glass-maker. He was the father of the commercial scent bottle and a celebrant of the golden age of travel with his car mascots, as well as his train and ocean liner interiors. London was a good market-place for Lalique too and he opened a shop near Knightsbridge.

We then moved on to look at some of the works designed by the architect Zaha Hadid in 2014 and 2016 and Still Water, the iconic horse’s head by Nic Fiddian-Green, the renowned sculptor of horses.

Read the review of the April 2024 Lalique auction ⇒

We would like to thank Lalique for providing the images for the the Magritte x Lalique collection and the information about Magritte and the Magritte x Lalique collection, which are included here.

Discover more about the collection at Lalique.com: Magritte x Lalique

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