The glass collection, a reference collection
The glass collection at the Musée de l'École de Nancy includes more than 900 pieces, mainly by Émile Gallé but also by the Daum factory, the Muller brothers and other glass artists from Lorraine. This collection, built up from the very beginning of the museum, bears witness to the innovations made in this field by the École de Nancy.
The École de Nancy is best known for its glasswork, which benefits from an ancient know-how in Lorraine. Glass is featured in the permanent collections, alongside furniture and objects d’art, with the exception of pieces by Émile Gallé, which have their own dedicated gallery.
The museum houses more than 400 works by Émile Gallé, including a sample of his work chosen by him, which entered the municipal collections in 1903. Subsequent purchases and donations have completed this collection, from major collectors including Eugène Corbin (1935), Henry Hirsch (1955) as well as the artist's descendants who have been very generous to the museum. This collection evokes the artist's evolution from transparent glass, decorated with painted or gilded motifs, to increasingly coloured glass, playing on material effects, applications and/or insertions. Using new techniques, the master glassmaker combined innovation and artistic research drawing on the naturalist repertoire. Around 1900, Gallé took inspiration from columbine, iris and meadow hogweed, to define new decors and to propose new shapes. The museum's collection includes masterpieces such as Les hommes noirs vase (1900 Universal Exhibition), la coupe Roses de France (1901) or Main aux algues et coquillages (1904).
The Daum manufacture followed Émile Gallé’s example and developed its own creations, experimenting with other techniques, such as pâte de verre, and adapting them to industrial production methods with sensitivity and precision. The museum's Daum collection includes more than 150 pieces, from the creation of an artistic department within the company in 1891 to the 1920s. The pieces on display focus on plants such as the Gourde coloquinte and the Ancolies vase. They also illustrate the range of techniques used by the factory: colouring, powders, applications, hammering and engraving.
The museum also preserves other glassmakers close to the École de Nancy : the Muller brothers, Paul Nicolas, Désiré Christian and André Delatte.