Former Naniwa Warehouse

Introducing the Artists

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  Emile Gallé (1846 - 1904)

  Born in Nancy, eastern Lorraine, France. Emile's father Charles Gallé owned his own business making and selling glass and ceramics. Gallé learned pottery from his father, and then went on to study woodwork and metalwork, finally arriving at the art of glass. In the Lycee (high school), he studied poetry and botany, and upon graduating from high school, went to Weimar, Germany to further his education, where he studied literature, philosophy, botany, mineralogy, and construction. Following his return to France, he built his own factory and immersed himself in glassmaking. Brimming with poetry, his visionary works born from a deep motivation, were first appreciated by the outside world at the Paris Exposition Universelle and highly praised. He was a vanguard of Art Nouveau and a master craftsman in the world of modern art.

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  Daum Brothers

  Auguste Daum (1853- 1909)

  Antonin Daum (1864 - 1930)

  Born in Bitche, Lorraine, France. Auguste, the older of the two, studied law at University of Paris, while the younger brother Antonin became a certified engineer at the Ecoles Centrale Graduate School of Engineering. Upon completing their education, the two became involved with their father Jean Daum's glass factory, and began making glass dishes for daily use. They were inspired by Emile Gallé, who was a great success at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, and turned their abilities toward artistic glass making. Thereafter, they created numerous beautiful Art Nouveau style pieces of work. Contrary to the creations of Emile Gallé, which express a powerful message on a theme of nature, they pursued a beauty that spoke more to the majority of people.

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  René Lalique (1860 - 1945)

  Born in Ay, France, a small village surrounded by rich nature, Lalique was a forerunner in glass art. Upon his father's death when he was sixteen, he took his mother's advice and became an apprentice to a jewelry maker, and later became a well known jewelry designer. His avant garde designs bought him fame at the Exposition Universelle 1900 in Paris. Many celebrities such as Sarah Bernhardt quickly became fans of Lalique. He went on to create perfume bottles crafted from beautiful glass, which lead to his interest in glassmaking. During the transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, Lalique also transitioned from jewelry designer to glass art maker. Contrary to the flamboyant art pieces of Emile Gallé or the Daum Brothers, Lalique pursued a more refined and transparent beauty in his glass sculptures. He incorporated the use of clear crystal, and with the advancement of industrialization, paved the way for molded glass art. It was at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in 1925, that his name became known to the world.

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  Joseph Gabriel Argy-Rousseau (1885 - 1953)

  Born in Meslay-le-Vidame, France, and maestro of paté de verre. After studying chemistry and physics, Argy-Rousseau entered the Ecole Nationale de Céramique at Sèvres. Upon graduating, he founded his own workshop where he began creating works of paté de verre, which in French means "glass paste." His work began to take off after the first exhibit of his Pâte de verre works at the salon of a French artist in 1914. In 1921, he founded the Argy-Rousseau Société des Pâtes de Verre in France. After the company was dissolved in 1931, he continued his work in his own studio, often modifying the surface of the glass, or using colors created by adding metal oxides to achieve brilliant color. Most of his creations were crafted in the Art Nouveau style, which incorporated detailed motifs of people, flowers and insects.

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  Victor Amalric Walter (1870 - 1959)

  Born in Sévers, France, Walter was one of the many prominent masters of the Pâte de verretechnique of glass making. He studied the basics of Pâte de verre at the Ecole Nationale de Céramique in Sévres, and began exhibiting his work around 1903. Invited by the Daum brothers, he worked at the Daum Glassworks company until 1914. Pâte de verre refers to a technique where glass paste mixed with vegetable pastes, are then placed in a mold and baked in a kiln. After World War I, Walter founded a studio in Nancy, France where he worked alongside designer Henri Bergés, as well as other painters and sculptors, to create beautiful pieces of art that graphically capture the details of insects, amphibians and fish. His work was highly reputable, and won the admiration of many.