(until 1936)
From 1870 to 1914, nine brothers and one sister of the Muller family worked as artists or craftsmen in the Muller Frères glass factory in Lunéville. The two eldest brothers, Désiré and Eugène, worked at Gallé in Nancy. Henri, Victor, and Pierre later also learned glass art there. It was Henri, the most enterprising of the family, who took the initiative to set up his own design studio in Lunéville on Rue Sainte-Anne. The glass designs were carried out in the neighboring Croismare at the Hinzelin Gobeleterie.
Emile and Eugène
Within the company, the individual areas of work were divided. Emile and Eugène designed the motifs for the art glasses. Their other brothers and sister then implemented these designs using various techniques. The most commonly produced was cased glass. It sometimes had up to seven different colored layers of glass, which were then etched or ground.
The manufactory’s production consisted of a very large range of jugs, vases, and bowls. They also produced table lamps, chandeliers, and bedside lamps. Since the Muller Frères were Gallé’s students, it is not surprising that their products were very similar to Gallé’s designs. Insects, bats, and butterflies are seen crawling, flying, and fluttering among fuchsias, morning glories, lianas, and bushes. This style, even in the 1930s, tended more towards Art Nouveau than Art Deco in its colors. Many of the surviving chandeliers are offered in antique shops in Paris (Rue St-Denis, Rue St-Honoré), in New York (Madison Avenue), or in Brussels (Avenue Louise).
By 1914, commercial production was steadily increasing. In 1919 the business connection to Hinzelin was restored and production was resumed together.
The Muller Frères factory temporarily employed up to three hundred people and existed until 1936.
Source: Alastair Duncan, Lampen Lüster Leuchter, Jugendstil Art Déco, Prestel-Verlag, München 1979, p. 84-85.
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The following artist glossary: Paul Follot
