Gabriel ARGY-ROUSSEAU (1885-1953)

Rare vase in polychrome glass paste decorated with Greek dancers in long dresses Signed on the decoration "G.Argy-Rousseau" and "France" on the back Around 1925 H : 30 cm Bibliography : Janine Bloch-Dermant : "Gabrile Argy Rousseau Catalogue raisonné", Les Editions de l'Amateur, model reproduced in colors page 89 and 220 under the number 30.02. Glass paste is a wonderful translucent material that was known in antiquity. Pliny tells us that a Roman emperor wanted to cut off the head of the potter who invented it, so that his secret would disappear forever. But long and patient work has been done nowadays to find the formula, and the Argy-Rousseau process has reached the highest degree of perfection; it allows to obtain the most varied forms, the most vivid colors, the most vigorous reliefs in a diaphanous paste where the light plays through an infinity of nuances, from the most delicate to the most violent. Ten years of relentless research were necessary to produce the perfect material that constitutes "Les Pâtes de verre d'Argy-Rousseau". To give you an idea of the process, let's summarize the various phases: A refractory clay mold is made from a wax model, modeled according to the decoration and the reliefs to be obtained. In this mold, the decorator, using brushes and appropriate tools, comes to deposit cold, the glass paste. This is composed of a vitrifiable mixture and has the appearance of a plastic material. The colorations are most varied, and it should be noted that it is especially the precious metals that tint with brilliance this beautiful material: gold gives the ruby reds and amethyst violets, silver the most delicate yellows, platinum and iridium the most fifin gray, and the most intense blacks the cobalt the deepest blues. All these pastes, the decorator places them according to the needs, in the hollows of the mold, which, naturally, will form the reliefs of the finished object. When the mold is dry, it is placed in the oven and fired at a very high temperature. The work of fire then occurs: the paste vitrifies, hardens, the colors develop while the mold becomes extremely brittle. After cooling, the refractory earth falls into dust, and, like a precious stone that comes out of its gangue, the glass paste object appears with all its decoration, all its reliefs, all its marvelous tints. Since the mold can only be used once, it is impossible to reproduce two objects that are absolutely similar; each work is therefore unique in its kind, an unparalleled attraction appreciated by all amateurs. The process of glass paste is certainly the most artistic and personal of all the processes of working glass and crystal, because it allows the artist to easily render all his thoughts. The glassware worked hot, blown or pressed, will never allow to have in the mass of the material itself, and remaining in place where they were placed, these varied tints that we observe in the glass paste. Contrary to blown glass, lined with colored layers, and decorated by acid etching, one can observe in the precious material of Argy-Rousseau's glass pastes widely modeled patterns, powerful reliefs as well as delicate chiseling. (Argy-Rousseau Archives)