The Metaphysical Site

Rene Lalique

A Family Tradition of Genius:  Rene, Marc, and Marie-Claude LaLique

In 1876, when Rene LaLique was apprenticed to the Parisian jeweler, Louis Aucoq, few would guess that he would become the most important figure in Art Noveau and Art Deco movements in the early twentieth century.  Even later in 1883, when he was freelancing for several leading jewelry producers  in Paris and designing jewelry for the rich and famous throughout Europe and America, it would have been unlikely anyone could have foreseen his future. 

It was only when he received a commission to produce perfume labels, and also bottles, that Rene turned to working with glass. Since that point, the Lalique family has been producing wonderful Art Nouveau and Art Deco and other art glass objects for our fascination and enjoyment for over one hundred and twenty five years.
 Working in the lead glass medium that lends itself so well to blow moulding and  pressed pattern glass techniques, Lalique Glass has been one of the most important influences in the art glass world.

Born in 1860 in Ay, Marne, France, Rene Lalique was apprenticed to a jeweler at the age of 16.  Leaving that to go to art school in England from 1878 to 1880, he returned and was employed variously by several major jewelry houses in Paris until 1886, when he opened his own shop. He produced jewelry for many rich and famous patrons including the actress Sarah Bernhardt. 

Over the next few years he won several major awards and prizes for his designs in important European exhibitions. 
In the early 1900s he was designing perfume bottles for several of the most important French perfume firms, and was moving away from the design and production of jewelry in favor of more and more designs in lead glass and crystal.  He produced many items from his new workshops, employing up to 500 craftsmen. 

Rene made many incredibly beautiful limited production items such as vases, boxes, bowls and plates, sculptures and hood ornaments, ornaments and a huge array of common every day objects in Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles through the 1920s and 1930s.  In 1939 his factory was impounded by the invading German forces, and it did not resume production until after his death at the end of the war in 1945.  He is buried in Paris.

In 1948, His son Marc reopened the shop and began producing glass once more.  Using both his fathers moulds and his own designs he began to complete the changeover in the product to full lead crystal.
 While heavily influenced by his fathers stylistic sense, Marc also produced many items of superlative beauty.
 
 The Lalique Glass factory continued for many years producing both art glass objects and commercial items such as perfume bottles.  In the 1950s, Marcs daughter Marie-Claude joined him in the operations and design of new glass, and partnered with him until his death in 1977.
  Since that time, she has carried on the family business and Lalique remains a vital art glass centre in the French art community.

Lalique Glass has appeared in many unique and interesting applications through the family creative past.

 It has graced no less than 29 automobiles as hood ornaments and it has been made into walls and columns in the luxury dining room of the ocean liner Normandie. 

 Lalique Glass has become an integral part of the glass church on the channel island of Jersey, as an altar piece and baptismal Font. 

Renes work is in museums all over the world from England to Tokyo, from New York to Australia.
 Thousands of individuals are able to own a vase, or a bowl, or even a sculpture designed by one of the LaLiques.  The beautiful work from the Lalique family has graced the world and this is evident in every major art centre worldwide, and will be appreciated with those who love such things forever.

About the Author

Keith Jones
(C)2009
To learn more about collecting Lalique Glass please visit :
http://www.laliqueartnouveau.com

Do Atheist Buddhists offer up food/gifts on their altar?

Do they even have an altar? I had a Buddhist friend (pantheist) once years ago who would leave rice and oranges in bowls daily for the gods. I understand that many Buddhists are atheists and Im curious if they partake of this particular tradition and if so are they offering the gifts to an ideal or an actual god within Buddhism? No snarkies please, Thanks!

There are many different sects of Buddhism, and each has a different form of worship, but most do make use of altars. Usually there is some sort of offering made to the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, it can be literal or figurative. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are two different ways to look at the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; you can see them as real beings like an external god, or the more ultimate truth of Buddhism states that these beings merely represent parts of every human being and studying them deepens awareness leading ultimately to enlightenment. An example is the Bodhisattva of Compassion. You can worship the Bodhisattva of Compassion and pray to the actual being, but there is also a sense that this ideal being is merely a symbol representing the great potential for compassion in every being. At the same time, there are living reincarnations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, one example is HH the Dalai Lama. So it goes both ways, the Buddha is real, but also just an ideal symbol of what humanity is ultimately capable of achieving; enlightenment. It takes a lot of probing and openness of mind to understand Buddhism, in true practice, only Lamas who have trained for 3 years are allowed to even talk about the religion. It is a big part of Tibetan Buddhism to make offerings in prayer and in real life to deities to gain further wisdom.

Australian Rockers Violent Soho Primed for U.S. Album Debut
NEW YORK----They say good things come in twos. Some 35 years after Brisbane, Australia unleashed Ramones’ precursors The Saints on unsuspecting rock fans, the port capital of the Australian state of Queensland is once again the focus of the indie rock world, home base of newly signed Ecstatic Peace/Universal Motown rockers Violent Soho.

Thanks for visiting!