Bowl

Gabriel Argy-Rousseau

Life Story

This small glass bowl was designed by Gabriel Argy-Rousseau (born Joseph-Gabriel Rousseau; 1885-1953) and manufactured using a technique known as pâte de verre or ‘glass paste’. Using this process, finely crushed glass bound with gum arabic is applied as a paste to the inside of a ceramic mould and fired in a kiln. Oxides and metal salts can be added to the powdered glass to produce different colours in the firing.

The pâte de verre technique developed from Roman frit casting that used moulds and chips of glass. It is likely that Argy-Rousseau first modelled the bowl form in plaster and clay before developing the moulds needed to cast a positive model in wax. This piece of kiln-fired glass relied on the lost wax casting method to create a cavity within a refractory ceramic material. Once the wax had drained out, glass paste was applied to the walls of the cavity and fired. [1]

Decorated with flowering branches in moulded relief, the rim of the bowl is festooned with purple and magenta blooms. Tubular in form, the frosted grey glass bowl sits on a generous foot. This piece has been incised with ‘G. Argy-Rousseau’ on its side and ‘4236’ on the base.

Argy-Rousseau admired Classical Greek civilization. However, the shape and decoration of this particular vessel resembles a Japanese tea bowl, revealing the influence of non-European artistic styles, specifically Japonisme, on Art Nouveau design.

From 1902-1906, Argy-Rousseau studied at the Ecole Nationale de Céramique at Sèvres where he earned a diploma in ceramic engineering. [2] During this period, Argy-Rousseau’s classmate Jean Cros introduced him to mould-cast glass production [3]. Jean Cros was the son of César-Isidore-Henri Cros (1840-1907) who had rediscovered the pâte de verre technique in 1893 and developed his own method for kiln-firing powdered glass in clay moulds [4].

Joseph-Gabriel Rousseau adopted the name Argy-Rousseau in 1913 when he married Marianne Argyriades, the year before he presented his designs at Le Salon des Artistes Français in Paris. [5] Argy-Rousseau founded the company ‘Société des Pâtes de Verre’ in 1921 [6] and formed a partnership with Gustav Moser-Millot who marketed Argy-Rousseau’s art glass. [7] Over the next 15 years he produced between 200 and 300 wax models for lamps, vases, and bowls. [8] Blighted by the economic crisis of 1929, series production ended with the dissolution of Argy-Rousseau’s company in 1931. [9]

Vanessa Tothill, January 2021

[1] Keith Cummings, Contemporary Kiln-formed Glass (A&C Black, 2009), pp. 34-37.

[2] https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-gabriel-argy-rousseau-1885-1963-a-jeunesse-vase-circa-5978726/ [accessed 4 January 2021] references Janine Bloch-Dermant, Argy-Rousseau: Glassware as Art (London: Thames and Hudson, 1991).

[3] https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-gabriel-argy-rousseau-1885-1963-a-jeunesse-vase-circa-5978726/ [accessed 4 January 2021] references Bloch-Dermant. (1991).

[4] https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/195144?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=C%c3%a9sar-Isidore-Henry+Cros&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=3 [accessed 4 January 2021]

[5] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG64679 [accessed 4 January 2021]

[6] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG64679 [accessed 4 January 2021]

[7] http://argyrousseau.com/history/ [accessed 7 January 2021]

[8] https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-gabriel-argy-rousseau-1885-1963-a-jeunesse-vase-circa-5978726/ [accessed 4 January 2021] referencesBloch-Dermant (1991).

[9] https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-gabriel-argy-rousseau-1885-1963-a-jeunesse-vase-circa-5978726/ [accessed 4 January 2021] references Bloch-Dermant (1991).