At the Musée des Arts décoratifs at the Louvre in Paris we spent a long time looking at the details of the artworks by Emile Gallé from circa 1890-1904.

I curated “Emile Gallé: Dreams into Glass” for the Corning Museum of Glass and authored the catalog, and borrowed several art works from the Musée for the show, including the Seahorse Vessel shown here, made in 1901 and dedicated to Joseph Reinach, who wrote a multi-volume chronicle of the Dreyfus affair. It is inscribed ‘Vitam impendere Vero” (Life depends on Truth.)

It’s worth recalling that many of the details of Gallé’s glass are embedded within the matrix of as well as on the surface, and there is a lot of engraving. For example, some details of a dragonfly wing might be trapped inside the glass as if in amber, but the texture of the wing would be engraved on the surface of the glass so that you can feel it with your hand. Embedded details generally look out of focus while the engraving is crisp. For Gallé, the tactile quality of the artwork was as essential as the visual.

Orpheus and Eurydice vase. Dated 1888-1889.