This well dsigned and made book begins with the biography of Émile Gallé, born in Nancy in 1846, and with great photos on family, workshops, works and documents –with the furnace of 1900- and closes with the closure of the stock space at the rue de la Faïençerie. Valérie Thomas then wrote the chapter Un artiste á l’oeuvre, les méthodes de travail d’Émile Gallé with material on his drawing, the design development and interest for nature, botanic knowledge and decoration, followed by the chapter De l’éclectisme au naturalisme, les sources d’ inspiration d’Émile Gallé by François Parmantier. Showing full-page photos on glass vases and many other objects the text points out how his knowledge on natural science took shape. Then The collections Émile Gallé au Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy is divided in chapters for the different materials he worked with: Ceramic, Glass, Furniture, Copper and Textile, Preparatory work and Photography.
With great note pages, sketches, designs and objects again in full-page photos the reader gets the full picture of his working carrier, development and decisions he had to make. Going through the pages one sees also the clear hand making all different disciples fit so well together in shape, colour and textures in the interiors.
Lovely book to study to know the man, his manufactories and work and the region he workded and the collection sinsce 1950 on Gallé at the Musée de l’École de Nancy.
Angela van der Burght