“Art for art’s sake” was a belief strongly espoused by the celebrated French designer and glassworker Émile Gallé. Through his ethereal glass vases, other vessels and lamps, which he adorned with botanical and religious motifs, Gallé advanced the Art Nouveau ideology and led the modern renaissance of French glass.
Gallé was the son of successful faience and furniture maker Charles Gallé but studied philosophy and botany before coming to glassmaking later in life. The young Gallé’s expertise in botany, however, would inform his design style and become his signature for generations to come.
After learning the art of glassmaking, Gallé went to work at his father’s factory in Nancy. He initially created clear glass objects but later began to experiment with layering deeply colored glass.
While glassmakers on Murano had applied layers of glass and color on decorative objects before Gallé had, he was ever-venturesome in his northeastern France, taking advantage of defects that materialized during his processes and etching in natural forms like insects such as dragonflies, marine life, the sun, vines, fruits and flowers modeled from local specimens.
Gallé is also credited with reviving cameo glass, a glassware style that originated in Rome. He used cabochons, which were applied raised-glass decorations colored with metallic oxides and made to resemble rich jeweling. Gallé's cameo glass vases and vessels were widely popular at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, cementing his position as a talented designer and pioneer.
During the late 19th century, Gallé led breakthroughs in mass production and employed hundreds of artisans in his workshop.
Botany and nature remained great sources of inspiration for the artist's glassmaking — just as they had for other Art Nouveau designers. From approximately 1890 to 1910, the movement’s talented designers produced furniture, glass and architecture in the form of — or adorned with — gently intertwining trees, flowers and vines. But Gallé had many interests, such as Eastern art and ceramics. The Japanese collection he visited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (then the South Kensington Museum) during the 1870s had made an impression too.
Breaking free from the rigid Victorian traditions, Gallé infused new life and spirit into the art and design of his time through exquisitely crafted glass vessels and pioneering new glassworking techniques.
Find a collection of Émile Gallé vases and other furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.
Emile Galle Potery Art nouveau
By Émile Gallé
Located in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Emile Galle Potery Art nouveau Plate and cup in artistic ceramic Rare set to see Art nouveau style Circa 1900 Origin France Decorated with leaves, flowers and insects, it also has wr...
Ceramic
Émile Gallé Miniature Cameo Vase, Art Nouveau, Ca 1900
By Émile Gallé
Located in Delft, NL
Émile Gallé miniature Cameo vase, Art Nouveau, ca 1900 Émile Gallé (Nancy, 1846 –1904) was a French glassmaker and furniture designer Émile Gallé 7...
Glass
$900
H 0.5 in Dm 9.1 in
Emile Galle Nancy ceramic / Faience plate Enamel/ paint Decorative Art Nouveau
By Émile Gallé
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Beautiful painted ceramic by the well known Art Nouveau artist/ designer Emile Galle, also known for cameo glass etched and furniture .
Ceramic, Faience
Émile Gallé long neck Cameo vase, Art Nouveau, 1904-1906
By Émile Gallé
Located in Delft, NL
Émile Gallé long neck Cameo vase, Art Nouveau, 1904-1906 Émile Gallé (Nancy, 1846 –1904) was a French glassmaker and furniture designer Émile Gallé 30 cm high long neck Cameo vase m...
Glass
Emile Gallé French Art Nouveau Cameo Glass Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in Antwerp, BE
Emille Galle (1846-1904). Émile Gallé was a French glass maker and furniture designer, who had his home in his native Nancy. His favourite topic, which he frequently used in his wor...
Glass
$3,004
H 9.45 in W 5.52 in D 3.94 in
French Art Nouveau Emile Galle Cameo Glass Vase -wild flowers C1899
By Émile Gallé
Located in Worcester Park, GB
Super early Emile Galle three colour cameo vase in the unusual combination of orange and yellow and pink featuring unusual wild flowers in bloom with a great early signature circa 18...
Art Glass
French Art Nouveau Signed Anemone Emile Gallé Cameo Glass Vase circa, 1920
By Émile Gallé
Located in Worcester Park, GB
French Art Nouveau Emile Gallé medium large cameo vase depicting Flowering Anemones in purple and blue over orange/yellow, with fine internal polishing to highlight the blue and purp...
Art Glass
Art Nouveau French Emile Galle Cameo Glass Flowering Primula Vase c1908
By Émile Gallé
Located in Worcester Park, GB
A stunning Early Emile Cameo Vase very deeply cameoed to show profusely flowering Primula, in orange and opaque white over yellow -an unusual colourway making the orange 'pop' and al...
Art Glass
French Art Nouveau Emile Galle Cameo Glass Moonlit Vase c1910
By Émile Gallé
Located in Worcester Park, GB
Rare Art Nouveau Emile Galle Cameo botanical vase, depicting flowers, in purple over blue and yellow. The flowers are set mostly against a dark blue background giving the illusion of...
Art Glass
French Art Nouveau Signed Fuchsia Emile Gallé Cameo Glass Vase circa, 1920
By Émile Gallé
Located in Worcester Park, GB
French Art Nouveau Emile Gallé cameo vase depicting Flowering Fuchsia in purple and blue over orange/yellow, with fine internal polishing to hig...
Art Glass
$2,048
H 7.88 in Dm 2.76 in
French Art Nouveau Emile Galle Cameo Glass Limited Edition Vase, circa 1900
By Émile Gallé
Located in Worcester Park, GB
Rare and early Art Nouveau Emile Galle limited edition cameo glass vase, depicting spiky dahlia like blossoms in orange over frosted clear, signed in cameo (see picture 5) with the additional super rare limited edition number 13 -raised in cameo (just visible in the picture centre below the Galle) The only Galle documentation about limited editions, like this, consist of a letter where Emile complains about the difficulty of doing them. It is not known who the editions were made for, or how many...
Art Glass
$1,502
H 7 in W 3.5 in D 2.5 in
French Art Nouveau Emile Galle Cameo Glass Botanical Banjo Vase, circa 1900
By Émile Gallé
Located in Worcester Park, GB
Classic Art Nouveau Emile Galle 'Banjo' vase, depicting blooms in fire polished green over pink, signed in cameo (see picture 3) -Provost Mark I -see chart -last picture. Emile Galle...
Art Glass
$2,098
H 5.83 in Dm 3.35 in
Emile Galle Art Nouveau Cameo Vase, Crocus Decoration, Nancy, France, Circa 1910
By Émile Gallé
Located in Vienna, AT
Tubular vase with an outwardly curved body resting on a stepped, inwardly drawn ring-shaped base, and a correspondingly shaped, ring-shaped, inwardly drawn mouth; colourless glass wi...
Glass
Émile Gallé Clytemnestra Brown Art Pottery Vase, circa 1900
By Émile Gallé
Located in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire
A stunning and rare French art pottery vase by Émile Gallé (1846-1904). The large bulbous earthenware vase is decorated with a semi-naked figure of Clytemnestra leaning on a sword to...
Earthenware
Emile Galle Yellow & Blue Reclining Cat
By Émile Gallé
Located in Stamford, CT
A signed French yellow & blue reclining cat by Emile Galle. Signed 'G' for Galle & 'R' for his mother's maiden name, with Cross of Lorraine.
Ceramic