When people hear the name “\u00c9mile Gall\u00e9,” many picture a glass flower vase with plants or insects rendered in a dreamlike way.<\/p>\n
That understanding is not wrong. But to grasp Gall\u00e9’s work through glass alone is to lose sight of his ceramics and wooden furniture, and of the Gall\u00e9 firm that linked several production sites and their artisans.<\/p>\n
\u00c9mile Gall\u00e9 was a craftsman and businessman who worked not only in glass but in ceramics and wooden furniture, expressing his view of nature and his Japonisme across materials.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
From around age seventeen, in 1863, Gall\u00e9 helped with his father’s business and began designing pottery. Ceramics came earlier than the glasswork that would later establish his international reputation, placing it close to the starting point of his work as a maker.<\/p>\n
From July 11 to September 23, 2026, the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum is holding the special exhibition “Gall\u00e9’s Ceramics II: A World of Fantasy and Invention.” Taking this exhibition as its starting point, this article sets out the difference between Gall\u00e9’s ceramics and his glass, how Japonisme appears in his work, the production structure of the Gall\u00e9 firm, and the background to the decline of his ceramics activity.<\/p>\n
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