lava

HECTOR GUIMARD  (1867-1942) France
MAISON COILLIOT Lille, France

Tile c. 1898

Fired and glazed lava with abstract whiplash motifs in various tones of aqua blue on the obverse and a partial graphic on the reverse with polychrome floral and linear details.

Marks: 16 (on top of tile)

French architect Hector Guimard (1867-1942) realized the decorative possibilities of glazed lava, a substance made from mixing pulverized lava with clay when he built a villa for Louis Coillot, (1898-1900) a ceramics manufacturer in Lille who monopolized the distribution of the material. Guimard sided the entire facade of Maison Coilliot in lava stone.

***A related glazed lava tile from the Castel Henriette is in the Collection of the Musee d’Orsay.

The Maison Coilliot is an Art Nouveau house located on 14, rue de Fleurus in Lille, France. Louis Coilliot, a French ceramic entrepreneur, was fond of enameled lava and wanted to popularize the technique. To do so, Coilliot commissioned Hector Guimard, an architect he’d met at the 1897 fair La Céramique et tous les arts du feu, (“Ceramic Arts & Glass Making”), to apply the technique to his house’s façade. Coilliot’s factory and warehouse were located to the rear of his house, and therefore the façade held a double
purpose, both decorating the front of his home and advertising his business.

For more information see: Hector Guimard, 1867-1942: Architektur in Paris um 1900 (Munich: Museum Villa Stuck, 1975)

H: 25 1/2″ x W: 14″ x D: 9/16″