Photography at the time of the École de Nancy

A number of artists from the École de Nancy tried their hand at photography including Émile Gallé, Charles Fridrich, Victor Prouvé and Henri Bergé.

The subjects of the photographic collections are rather traditional. Some of the photographs relate to the private sphere: family photographs, views of Nancy or shots from holidays. Others document the creative process within the factories (plants, insects, models, etc.) or how the works produced were distributed (promotional photographs, views of exhibition stands). Finally, there are many prints showing companies or artists and their collaborators at work.

The inclusion of these holdings in the municipal collections is quite recent, and is mainly due to the generosity of the artists' descendants who donated these documentary collections from the1980s onwards.

The Gallé photographic collection includes more than 210 prints. These show the art factory, the various workshops and employees at work, as well as the artist's family and home. Another set includes photographs of plants, which undoubtedly played a documentary role during the production of certain pieces.

Other prints and family albums provide a better insight into some of the key figures in the École de Nancy, such as Victor Prouvé, Louis Majorelle and Charles Fridrich, enabling comparisons with their creations. Jacques Majorelle's family album reveals the interiors of the Villa Majorelle, while photographs of Victor Prouvé's children have given life to a number of stoneware statuettes.

For conservation reasons, these photographs are not on display in the museum, but they are regularly shown at exhibitions and outreach events. The museum mainly keeps photographic plates which need to be printed on paper before display.