art nouveau

from top: Villa Majorelle, 

front stairs of villa,

courtyard of Musée de l'École

Nancy has an incredibly strong attachment to the Art Nouveau movement. I've mentioned this briefly in the past, and I'd been dying to sink my teeth into what Nancy has to offer.

I've also been dying to get out of the apartment, as my work load has greatly increased lately–mostly listening to podcasts and videos that 100 law students selected, to tell them if they will work for their presentation or not. My ears and eyes are bleeding from sitting at my computer, and I'm sure it's not good to sit for as long as I have with a laptop on my, well, lap.

We busted out of the house yesterday and went for a bike ride into the artsy part of town. The Villa Majorelle  is only open on weekends, and is one of the most beautiful pieces of Art Nouveau known to man (well, at least to this woman).

Louis Majorelle was one of the top French furniture designers of the movement–so says the Musée d'Orsay, where a few of his pieces are on display, so their opinion means more than mine.  He built the furniture and grand staircase for his three-story villa, did the iron work and hired architect Henri Sauvage to bring his dream home to life.

The villa was built across the street from his workshop, and this is where your tour of the villa now begins. Unfortunately, we walked up to a tour that was full and were told, rather kindly, that we would have to make reservations for next weekend. If we liked, the tour guide said, we could do a petit tour about the house, careful not to listen to what the tour was saying.

So we did; we snapped a few pictures (which can be seen here); we felt awkward; we headed to the Musée de l'École. This museum is breathtaking, but if you snap a a picture while catching your breath, the guards are quick to take your camera as well. We were limited to taking pictures of the courtyard with its sepulchre, aquarium and hidden, moss-covered pond. It truly captures the whimsical essence of the movement and makes me think of Colette's novels, booming industry and absinthe.

It was great to spend some time learning about the history of Nancy through its art–how industry and the town's biggest art movement seemed to arrive at the same time; how some serious movers-and-shakers brought the town to life. I wanted to take a few moments to share it with you, give you some eye candy and fun things to click, and insist that you investigate Art Nouveau, which is enough to turn any person into a romantic. Not sure where to start? Check out Emile Gallé, Paul Nicolas, and Victor Prouvé–three hot shots I've yet to mention that we discovered while at the museum.

P.S. Beaujolais nouveau celebration pictures here.