Ville de Nancy

Contact

Ville de Nancy / Musée de l’École de Nancy

36-38 rue du Sergent Blandan
54 000 NANCY
France

phone +33 03 83 40 14 86

mail
menancy@mairie-nancy.fr

The city of Nancy, already rich of an XVIIIth century heritage, was, one and a half century later, witness of a new dynamism in the field of decorative arts and became along with Paris, one of the leading centers of Art Nouveau in France. Through the decisive impetus given by Emile Gallé, glassmaker, ceramicist and cabinet-maker, an alliance of artists and art industrialists gathered in 1901 under the name of “École de Nancy”. Using plants as their main source of inspiration, Gallé, Majorelle, Daum, Prouvé, Gruber, Vallin and others not only gave the art objects an artistic quality but also a new social dimension producing a mix of unique masterpieces and less expensive industrial pieces. The originality of the École de Nancy lies in the fact that there is a close bond between art and industry, and technical innovations in glass, ceramics, textile, leather or metal also led to the creation of new objects.

Major artists

Portrait of Charles Fridrich on his bicycle
Charles Fridrich 
Upholsterer and decorator
Silver portrait of Émile Friant
Emile Friant 
Painter and decorator
Black and white portrait of Lucien Weissenburger
Lucien Weissenburger 
Architect
Black and white portrait of Camille Martin
Camille Martin 
Painter and decorator
Black and white portrait of Emile André
Emile André 
Architect
Portrait of Jacques Gruber
Jacques Gruber 
Painter, glass maker and decorator
Black and white portrait of Eugène Vallin
Eugène Vallin 
Cabinetmaker and architect
Black and white portrait of Auguste Daum
Auguste Daum
Glass maker and art industrialist
Black and white portrait of Antonin Daum
Antonin Daum
Glass maker and art industrialist
Black and white portrait of Victor Prouvé
Victor Prouvé 
Painter, sculptor, engraver and decorator
Silver portrait of Louis Majorelle
Louis Majorelle 
Cabinetmaker
Silver portrait of Émile Gallé
Émile Gallé
Master glassmaker, cabinetmaker and ceramist

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The Art Nouveau buildings by Emile André or Lucien Weissenburger were able to create the artistic and functional spirit of the École de Nancy in the urban space. More than one hundred buildings (commerce, coffee houses, apartment buildings, banks…) resolutely “new” are still important in the landscape of Nancy today. One of the most spectacular mansion is the Villa Majorelle, designed by Henri Sauvage for the cabinet-maker Louis Majorelle. Formerly known as the “Villa Jika”, the house has undertook a major renovation and appears as a paragon of the École de Nancy’s precepts of perfect unity between style and comfort, where beauty is intricately combined with utility.

Settled in the old property of Eugène Corbin, – main patron of that time – the museum of the École de Nancy collects art objects (glass, ceramics, furniture, lights, bookbinding…) signed by the most important artists of the Ecole de Nancy. Rather than attempting to faithfully reproduce scenes from the early 1900s, the museum aims to create the atmosphere of the period by combining objets d’art, furniture and stained glass. The Fine Arts Museum of Nancy, on the place Stanislas, hosts a collection of more than three hundred Daum glasses and presents a number of masterpieces of the painters of the École de Nancy: Emile Friant, Victor Prouvé, Camille Martin and Henri Royer.