Limoges Enamels: Fire Art of the 20th Century

On 16 December, 2003, in the State Hermitage Museum (room No. 307) was opened an exhibition of enamels from the Eveche Municipal Museum in Limoges, organized by the Hermitage 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 plique-a-jour technique prevailed, while during the Renaissance the production of painted enamels was started.

Along with creations of artists from the first half of the 20th century associated with the art deco movement (Paul Bonneau, Camil Foret and Leon Jouot), the exhibition shows works of our contemporaries (Roger Dubain, Bernadette Lepinois, Gubert Martial), who, while carrying on the millenium-long tradition of enamel technique, continue to develop it, experiment with materials and create sophisticated and original works of art.

The State Hermitage Museum and Slaviya Publishers in cooperation with their French colleagues have issued a full-color illustrated catalogue in Russian and French. The show has been prepared by the Hermitage Department of West European Art and its curator Ye.N. Nekrasova.

More

At the ceremony

Limoges Enamels

At the exhibition

The catalogue