GABRIEL ARGY-ROUSSEAU ART NOUVEAU PATE' DE VERRE FLORAL PAPERWEIGHT

GABRIEL ARGY-ROUSSEAU ART NOUVEAU PATE' DE VERRE FLORAL PAPERWEIGHT Description Rare and exquisite Gabriel Argy-Rousseau Art Nouveau Pate' de Verre Floral Motif Paperweight, in excellent antique condition, having no cracks, chips, or repairs. Etched GAR signature to the base edge. Beautiful mixture of violet and deep violet powders. Measures 3.5 inches in diameter ane approximately 1.5 iches tall. Born Joseph-Gabriel Rousseau , in a small village outside of Chartres to a farming family, Rousseau became interested in drawing at a very early age. He was also intensely interested in physics and chemistry, first attending Ecole Breguet, and in 1902 Ecole de Sèvres, where he meet the son of pâte-de-verre pioneer Henri Cros. Following his graduation in 1906 Rousseau took the title of “engineer-ceramist” and worked in a research laboratory developing dental porcelain before devoting his focus exclusively to the art of pâte-de-verre. In 1913 he married Marianne Argyriadès, a highly cultured woman of Greek descent who fueled Rousseau’s interest in Greek and Classical art. After his marriage Rousseau added the first four letters of his wife’s maiden name “a-r-g-y” in homage to her cultural, emotional, and domestic support, signing his name “Argy-Rousseau” for the remainder of his artistic career.Argy-Rousseau began exhibiting in 1914 at the Exposition du Salon des Artistes Français and quickly gained success and fame due to multiple enthusiastic reviews of his work. In 1921 Argy-Rousseau met gallery and glass works owner Gustave Moser-Millot and established the Société Anonyme des Pâtes de Verre d’Argy-Rousseau. The firm developed their pâte-de-verre technique for 6 months, built extensive new workshops and furnaces, trained 20 workers, and in 1923 began producing regular commissioned work. The Galerie Moser-Millot held the exclusive rights to exhibit and sell pieces by Argy-Rousseau, though he never divulged the procedures for making pâte-de-verre and retained exclusive rights to his techniques. Moser-Millot acted as the chairman of the board and Argy-Rousseau became managing director, guaranteed a base salary and percentage of annual profits. The pieces were widely distributed across Europe, as far as Romania, to North Africa, the United States, and Latin America. Argy-Rousseau advertised his wares and techniques in French and American Decorative Arts magazines and educated the purchasing public with leaflets describing the technique sufficiently enough to build appreciation for the skill required.His pâte-de-verre was immediately recognizable for its technique and highly individualized decorative style that was apparent even in his earliest works exhibited in 1914. As was the ideal of the time, and Argy-Rousseau’s own inclinations, nature was the foremost theme in his work. Flowers, insects, animals, and the female form were abundant. He was also inclined to simplicity and balance hallmarks of the Classical art and antiquity that inspired him. In many of his vases he created a frieze out of flowers that wrapped around the upper portions. From 1917 onwards his naturalistic forms became increasingly elongated and the influence of Japanese art became more apparent. Scenes from ancient mythology, such as his famous “Le Jardin des Hespérides” were also common motifs. Expertly skilled at placing glass paste inside the mould to achieve desired effect, the glass ranged in thickness and from semi-transparent to opaque in accordance to the design.Argy-Rousseau was also an avid inventor, filing several patents during WWI intended to benefit the Ministry of Defense. Of his peacetime discoveries the ‘procedure for instant color photography’ presented to the Académie des Sciences in 1925 earned him a silver medal from the Société d’Encouragement au Progrès and another from the Office National de Recherches Scientifiques et Industrielles et des Inventions. Though his discovery was remarkable, he lacked the financial support to market it. However such an invention showcases how up-to-date Argy-Rousseau w... read more