Nicholas Dawes is an accomlished appraiser and expert on the designs of Rene Lalique.
On Tuesday, November 3, Nicholas Dawes will deliver a lecture on the work of Rene Lalique at the New York Metropolitan Glass Club titled “Rene Lalique and the Natural World.” The presentation will explore Lalique’s relationship with nature, and how it functioned as a primary source of inspiration for much of his work.
Because Studio Glass was so squarely focused on the revolutionary breakthrough of making art from the material of glass, beginning with Harvey Littleton’s 1962 Toledo Workshop, earlier efforts to make sculptural and design forms with glass tended to be deemphasized. While Rene Lalique employed a factory of up to 600 people, and was not personally fabricating his cutting-edge glass designs that were on the forefront of Art Deco design between World War I and II, he exploited the unique characteristics of glass.
Creating everything from fountains to lighting to luxury car hood ornaments, Lalique’s designs bear the clean sleek lines of Classical Greek sculpture with some touches of the primitivism that informed so much of Modern Art. He helped to advance Art Deco, which borrowed elements of many important art movements including Cubism, Futurism, Art Nouveau, and Constructivism, bringing them together into a stylish and elegant blend that became the height of fashion and luxury.
Currently a consultant for Heritage Auctions, Dawes is a former department head and auctioneer at both Phillips and Sotheby’s. Perhaps most widely known as an expert appraiser for the Antiques Roadshow television program, Dawes is the author of Lalique Glass (Crown, 1986), widely considered one of the definitive work on Lalique (perhaps the single most important book is Felix Marcilhac’s now out-of-print catalogue raisonné titled simply René Lalique and published in 1989). Dawes has been a faculty member of Parsons School of Design in New York since 1983, where he teaches American and European history and luxury marketing courses.
The New York Metropolitan Glass Club meets the first Tuesday of each month (from October through May) in Manhattan, usually at St. Michael’s Church at Amsterdam Avenue and West 99th. Street. St. Michael’s is a land-marked church whose interior was designed by Tiffany Studios. Annual membership dues range from $25 (student rate) to $75 (for a family). Attendance on a per meeting basis is $10 per person. The club welcomes both new members and visitors.
IF YOU GO:
Nicholas Dawes “Rene Lalique and the Natural World” Tuesday, November 3, 6:30 PM St. Michael’s Church Amsterdam Avenue and West 99th Street New York, NY Email: nyglassclub@gmail.com