ART NOUVEAU IN THE CHRYSLER COLLECTION

Others, like Gaillard, worked in Paris and are well represented in the collections of other museums. The Chryslers saw the École de Nancy as a complete and self-contained story of artistic competition and collaboration, told in dazzling and sophisticated yet subdued pieces of furniture and glass, that could be enjoyed at home.

From Nouveau to Deco

Among the most dazzling characters of the Art Nouveau movement was the American dancer Loïe Fuller (1862–1928). Her performances, like the Fire Dance and Serpentine Dance , involved keeping a long swath of cloth suspended in the air in billowing waves, which she would illuminate with colored lights. Her dances transfixed European audiences and were celebrated in posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901), Jules Chêret (1836–1932; Cat. 22a), and Manuel Orazi (1860–1934; Cat. 32b), as well as sculptures, table lamps (Cats. 33, 35), and even a clock (Cat. 40).

Over time, however, the repetitions and predominance of billowy dancers, female nudes, and erotic imagery gave Art Nouveau an indulgent, sensual, and feminine quality (Cats. 59, 60, 114) that felt stingingly out of step with the advent of cataclysmic trench warfare in 1914. Economic circumstances, labor shortages, and a worldview forever changed by the war led designers to embrace a machine aesthetic and processes that were mechanized and more economical. Art Deco also entered the vocabulary of Art Nouveau leaders like Majorelle in products like his Art Moderne Vase (Cat. 121). Majorelle’s business had suffered enormous damage during the war but continued till his death in 1926. Pierre Chareau’s (1883–1950) Art Deco armchair is a key example of the new aesthetic in French furniture design (Cat. 122).

Art Nouveau was one of many collecting areas developed by Walter and Jean Chrysler out of an appreciation for value in the marketplace. They were drawn by the strong aesthetic impact, artistic virtuosity, and simple luxury of the works, but their collection defied the dominant taste of the day and they would have to wait decades for vindication. Art Nouveau stagnated in the New York art market until the opening of galleries like Lilian Nassau and Macklowe in the 1970s.

Cat. 33

Siot Foundry, Table Lamp in the Form of Loïe Fuller, ca. 1900, gilt bronze, 18 × 8 1/2 × 10 in.,

Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 71.2678

Cat. 34

Reissner, Stellmacher & Kassel, Vase in Amphora Line Grès-Bijou, ca. 1890, porcelain, 9 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.,

Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 71.2776

Cat. 40

Felix Voulot, Clock, ca. 1900, gilt bronze and porcelain, 21 1/4 × 8 3/8 × 7 in.,

Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 71.3541

Cat. 41

Art Nouveau vase, ca. 1890–1900, ormolu gilt bronze, 19 1/2 × 8 3/8 in., Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 71.3574c

Cat. 85

Daum Frères, Vase, ca. 1910, glass, 20 1/8 × 6 × 5 1/4 in.,

Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 72.30

Émile Gallé, Nesting table, ca. 1890, mixed woods, 28 3/4 × 23 × 15 3/4 in.,

Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 83.554a