nouveau #13
"Galle' Floral"
Artistry from the studios of Emile Galle' (1846-1904) was designed to evoke the spirit of nature by creating a powerful sense of an alternative world. Galle' was a knowledgeable botanist and skilled droughtsman, and even in his earliest works one notes his keen observations of flora and insects overlaid with stylish interpretation. He did drawings and offered ideas, but, like Louis Comfort Tiffany, most of his work was done by the craftsmen in his employ. By the 1880s his glassworks had commercial stability and artistic success, and by 1890 he had shops in Paris, London, and Frankfurt. The etched glass lid (from circa 1903) that themes our instrument was the first piece of art I purchased for the Nouveau Series collection before I knew there would even be one. I viewed it first in a photograph and was moved by its delicacy, lovely use of space, and subtlety of gorgeous colour. After viewing it in three dimensions over a period of time, I entered a new realm of artistic understanding, and in some ways it evoked the Nouveau Series."
design & work
woods and materials
"This twelve-string 'sibling' of the Series features top woods of Jarrah, flame Maple, Myrtle burl, and Padouk - all designed to the theme of the floral scene of the glass coloured in pale dark blue, brownish purple, dark evergreen, light green, and mauve. The fingerboard inlay of stylized flowers is comprised of coloured bone and abalone, again taking its cue from the art. The knobs are from a 1940s radio, the switch fashioned from Catalin, and the bridge is Purpleheart. The glass is set into the body so the light can pass through from either direction revealing its delicacy and eloquence."