Conclusion
The Colonial Influence on Gallé's Artworks as a Reflection of Contemporary SocietyGallé used the language and products of France’s civilizing mission in order to assert himself as a fine artist and craftsman. He borrowed the ideology of France’s civilizing mission, taking something natural and wild, and refining it into something valuable. Gallé was actively engaged in decorative arts reform that demanded it be treated with the same respect afforded to painting and sculpture. He aligned himself with French political and colonial policy by choosing to exhibit these furniture pieces at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, an event that celebrated French achievements, and presented France’s colonial rule as one such achievement. In doing so, Gallé aligned himself with contemporary French political and colonial policy and used the venue celebrating the French government’s achievements as a venue within which to celebrate his own, intellectualizing furniture on the same level of fine art.
Though this study focuses expressly on colonialist themes embedded in Gallé’s wooden furniture, these same themes extend beyond his work in wood. Works like Africana Vase (Figure 42), and Forest of Guyana (Figure 43) both make explicit reference to sites of French colonial activity, showing that colonialism influenced Gallé’s designs across media. The fact that both of these were made in the same year, and that Africana was displayed at the 1900 Exposition Universelle further shows that colonialism was a very present influence for Gallé at this time.
Figure 42: Émile Gallé, Africana Vase, 1900. Blown glass and glass marquetry, engraved, mounted in silver. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
Figure 43: Émile Gallé, The Forest of Guyana, 1900. Musée de l’École de Nancy, Nancy.
Gallé’s bois des îles works also point to a broader contemporary trend in which individuals furnished domestic spaces with “exotically” adorned objects that drew inspiration from sources rooted in colonialism. This increasing engagement with and desire for the exotic was driven by increasing rates of global exploration and trade, a highly profitable outcome of colonialism. According to Stephanie Elizabeth Bancroft, exotic materials, forms, and motifs taken from outside of Europe were modified to be palatable for a western audience, while still retaining enough exoticism to signal “intelligence and knowledge of the larger world, and a cosmopolitan engagement with global commerce and cultural exchange.”[1] While Gallé used the products and language of the French civilizing mission to advance his own reputation as a fine artist, individuals who purchased these “livably exotic” objects were cultivating their own reputations as educated, worldly members of modern society.[2]
For example, Debora Silverman demonstrated the connection between the whiplash curves embedded in Victor Horta’s architectural designs for domestic interiors to the violence inflicted upon Congolese people under Belgian colonialist rule.[3] Horta’s emblematic whiplash curves can be seen in Tassel House (1892-93, Figure 44), a residential home adorned with Art Nouveau flourishes in Brussels.
Figure 44: Victor Horta, Stairway in Tasselhouse, Brussels, 1892-93. Photograph by Henry Townsend, 2002.
Figure 45: William Morris, Holland Park carpet, late 19th century. Wool. 515.6 x 396.9 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Figure 46: Kirman Carpet, 1600-1700. Cotton warp, silk and cotton wefts, and wool pile. 523 x 330.5 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Similarly, William Morris’s arabesque designs conjure images of rugs made in the Islamic world, which in the nineteenth century was rampant with British imperial rule. In her thesis, Bancroft argued that Islamic imagery was vital to Morris’ designs, which blended Islamic imagery with British medieval designs in order to create a “modern and innovative expression of British cosmopolitanism” that was simultaneously familiar and foreign to British consumers.[4] Bancroft traced the geometric floral motifs in Morris’ design for his Holland Park carpet (late 19th century, Figure 45) to a Safavid rug (1600-1700, Figure 46) in his own collection.[5] Horta, Morris, and Gallé were participating in a broader trend in which artists from colonial powers were appropriating and adapting the materials, themes, and imagery from sites of colonialism and profiting from them in a commercial sphere propelled by the demand from consumers in that colonial power.
In considering sources of inspiration that originate in a place other than unadulterated nature, our understanding of Art Nouveau as a style begins to shift. Not only was it not simply a practice in aesthetics, but the stylized lines and curves that continue to enamor a public eye even today are a reflection of the contemporary context in which the artists who created them lived. Without colonialism, the “nature” that inspired Gallé would have remained unfamiliar to him, the materials he prized would have been inaccessible to him, and the ideology which Gallé borrowed in order to assert his role as an artist-craftsman would not have existed.
[1]. Stephanie Elizabeth Bancroft, “Livable Exoticism: William Morris and Islamic Art” (MA diss., Sotheby’s Institute of Art, 2012), 1.
[2]. Bancroft, “Livable Exoticism,” 1.
[3]. Silverman, “Art Nouveau, Art of Darkness,” 139.
[4]. Bancroft, “Livable Exoticism,” 2.
[5]. Bancroft, “Livable Exoticism,” 49-50.