Hogweed, side chair
1902
- Medium
- walnut, caning
- Measurements
- 94.0 × 48.0 × 45.5 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Nancy, France
- Accession Number
- 2020.806
- Department
- International Decorative Arts
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family, 2021 - Gallery location
- Mid 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
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Emile Gallé was one of the leading glass and furniture designers of the Art Nouveau style. He studied botany and drawing in his youth, later learning glassmaking before coming to work at his father’s factory in Nancy. In 1884 he established a cabinet-making workshop, and by the time of his participation in the Paris International Exhibition of 1889 Gallé had achieved international fame for his glass and furniture designs. Inspiration from nature was fundamental to Gallé’s design philosophy, and every detail and motif in his furniture was informed directly by nature, as seen in the umbrella-shaped umbel of the hogweed plant that forms the backrest of this chair.