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  Limoges Enamels: Fire Art of the 20th Century The exhibition of enamels (room No. 307) is organized by the State Hermitage Museum jointly with the Limoges Townhall and the Eveche Municipal Museum in Limoges, with the support of the Consulate General of the French Republic in St. Petersburg. The exhibition shows some 60 works of the 20th century Limoges enamelists, which are hardly known even to art historians, apart from the general public; this fact makes the Hermitage show even more interesting. It displays part of the collection preserved in the Eveche Municipal Museum in Limoges and allows to trace the development of enamel art from the early 20th century to the present day. Limoges is one of Europe's largest centers of "fire arts" - porcelain, enamel and glass, in whose production fire is used. Enamels are the oldest "fire art" in Limoges. In the 12th and 13th centuries champleve technique prevailed, while during the Renaissance the production of painted enamels was started. Enamel (glass powder with metal oxides) was applied to copper surfaces. When fired, it melted and produced a smooth brilliant surface of bright and fresh colors. During the Middle Ages, champleve technique prevailed, when hollows made in metal surfaces were filled with enamel; in the 15th century, artists started to use "enamel paints" producing painted enamels. This technique remained predominant into the 20th century. Artists of the first half of the 20th century used nontransparent, transparent and opalescent enamels in combination with golden and silver foil. While using the centuries-long technique, they did not merely imitate old masters. Paul Bonnaud (1873-1953) was the recognized master of art nouveau. Beginning in the first decade of the 20th century, his studio produced vases of various forms. Some were decorated with painted flowers, while others were glazed with enamel, which itself served as decoration. After the famous Paris exhibition of 1925, many enamelists joined the art deco movement and gave Limoges enamels new means of expression, which secured them an impressive and durable success. The studios of Camille Faure (1872-1955) and Alexandre Marty (1876-1943) fabricated exquisite vases of noble forms decorated with roses and other flowers or grisaille geometric patterns. Shining and opaque enamels produce an interplay of sharp contrasts of solid or opal sheen colors. The local market was amply supplied with these products, and many Limoges homes still possess art deco vases, which are not sought by many collectors of art. The magnificent pictorial compositions created by the gifted self-taught master Leon Jouhaud (1874-1950), who had an exquisite color taste, are now among the rarest and most valuable Limoges enamels manufactured between the two world wars. Artists of the second half of the 20th century continued to experiment in search of new effects. Study of medieval enamels encouraged Hubert Martial (born in 1928) to create abstract compositions, which combine painted and plique-a-jour techniques. Masters are readily combining both techniques and materials, like Dominique Gilbert (born in 1954), who prefers abstract compositions and specializes in the production of paintings, bowls and decorations. Bernadette Lepinois (born in 1939) creates large-size enamels using the techniques of excessive firing and effects of uncoated and oxidized copper. |
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