The jewelry world of French Art Nouveau is a magical realm where fragile fairies and nymphs rule the show, a fabulous bestiary and luxurious flowers of incredible shapes and colors. The creators of these strange masterpieces were numerous jewelers and early designers. The best of them were representatives of the famous trio: Rene Lalique, Georges Fouquet and Henri Vever.
Henri Wever (1854-1942), of course, may be the last on our list, but by no means is it significant in relation to the history of jewelry art. And although his jewelry is not as pretentious and original as the masterpieces of René Lalique, they have their own unique charm and exquisite aesthetics, which ultimately brought Vever fame at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and even the Grand Prix at the famous international exhibition in Paris 1900
1. Diamond tiara by Henri Vever, 1910
Henri Vever, like Georges Fouquet, was a hereditary jeweler: his grandfather set up a jewelry workshop in his native city of Metz back in 1821, then, in 1870. father Ernest Wever moved the business to Paris. The moment was not very good the Franco-Prussian war soon began. However, the Vever house managed to survive and stand on a par with other more or less successful jewelry firms of that time. Everything changed after Ernest’s sons, Paul and Henri, took over the family business in 1881.
Here, as will later happen in the history of another famous French jewelry house Cartier, all the heirs turned out to be gifted, each in his own way: Paul was a successful businessman, and therefore was responsible for the commercial side of the business, and Henri was a talented designer.
2. Brooch with tourmaline and diamonds, ca. 1900
Henri Wever very quickly imbued with the ideas of a new, just emerging style Art Nouveau. In many ways, this was facilitated by the collaboration of the Vever house with successful artists and designers of that time, one of which, in particular, for some time was Rene Lalique.
However, unlike the latter, Henri Wever never dared to give preference to semi-precious materials, on the contrary, in his works he continued to use luxurious, original jewelry means of expression: gold, diamonds and platinum. Still, he was a hereditary jeweler and remained faithful to traditions At the same time, this very fidelity did not prevent him from using motifs, ornaments and forms of the new style in his works, for example: the frightening sharp wings of bats and the complex, artsy buds of luxurious orchid flowers.
3. Necklace with a branch of wisteria, ca. 1900
As for the most preferred plots and design ideas, here Henri Wever gave a clear preference to the softest and most delicate elements of beautiful Art Nouveau: elegant flower buds of wisteria, lilies of the valley, bluebells from the outside it might seem that he simply “copied” natural scenes, without trying somehow rethink or refine them.
Well, even if it was so, he did it very beautifully: thin, delicate flowers literally come to life, thanks to the soft sheen of freshwater pearls and the warm light of multi-colored enamel 4. Gold pendant in the shape of a fuchsia flower, circa 1900.
And sometimes even this was not enough for Henri Vever, and diamonds appeared on the petals of flowers, as in this pendant though surrounded by opals so beloved by modernity it is from them that flower buds are made.
5. Comb “Mistletoe” 1900
Wever also experimented with much more modest materials, such as a horn. As a result, he produced unusual and exquisite products that embodied the Art Nouveau style, but somehow softly, unobtrusively…
6. Comb “Cyclamen”, 1900
In his jewelry, we will never meet prickly thistles or insects, unlike the defiant art of Rene Lalique, Vever followed only the general concept of modernity, never went to extremes and did not seek to shock or shock the public.
7. Necklace with a medallion.
Perhaps this tactic was the result of the personal taste of the designer himself, who clearly preferred delicate and feminine plots and ornaments, smooth lines, restrained colors and shades.
Or perhaps it was a forced measure imposed by economic interests: after all, the exotic and too bold masterpieces of Rene Lalique were in limited demand for the general public it was more of a challenge and for commercial success, the company needs to be constantly in demand, regardless of style and fashion It is no coincidence that, as we could see in previous articles of the channel, jewelry giants like Tiffany and Cartier left the aesthetics of modernity practically unheeded, even at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, remaining faithful to the classic jewelry canons.
8. Gold brooch in the form of an iris flower. 1900
However, partly because of the same economic component, Henri Wever, unlike these two jewelry empires, could not do without participating in the general obsession with the luxurious and attractive beauty of modernity. Unlike Cartier and Tiffany, Vever has never been and never will be able to reach the level of an international jewelry empire. Although, at the turn of the century, many foreign aristocrats, including representatives of the Russian imperial family, will be among its buyers 9. Carved ivory comb with gold thread
In part, Henri Wever’s fascination with Art Nouveau was an inevitable consequence of his passion for Oriental art and collecting. In particular, he collected Japanese prints, and as we already know from other articles, the influence of Japanese culture was one of the sources of inspiration for beautiful Art Nouveau, Middle Eastern art, ancient Mughal jewelry and much more. All these hobbies somehow found their reflection in his work.
10. Brooch “Margarita”, 1900
But what turned out to be much more interesting and important for the success of the company was that, thanks to his passion for art, Henri Vever greatly appreciated the work of other artists and quickly found among them those talents that could be used for the benefit of the Vever house.
The best in this regard was his creative union with the artist, sculptor, graphic artist and illustrator Eugene Grasse (1845-1917). It was thanks to him that Henri Wever created the best collection of jewelry in the history of the company, which was subsequently presented at the international Paris exhibition in 1900. and brought worldwide fame and glory to the Vever house as one of the brightest representatives of beautiful modernity.
11. Belt buckle “Peacock”, 1900
Thanks to E. Grasse, more daring and interesting subjects appeared in Henri Wever’s designs, inspired by mythical creatures, unusual flowers and plants, as well as the aesthetics of the long-forgotten, almost barbaric art of the early Middle Ages of the Merovingian era the first royal dynasty of France.
His designs were spectacular, full of energy, lively and unusual. For the most part, they were graceful nymphs, whose slender silhouettes magically grew from the buds of precious flowers or hid behind the luxurious brilliance of multi-colored enamel leaves.
12. Pendant “Poetry”, 1900
For all their boldness, these images turned out to be so consonant with the general style of the Vever house: again, there was no challenge and kitsch in them, there was no expression, and although E. Grasse preferred dark colors and shades, they were almost always pleasantly set off by the glitter of gold and diamonds.
It seemed that E. Grasse and A. Vever managed to combine the incongruous: the pretentious aesthetics of modernity, its love and craving for natural forms and ornaments with luxurious sophistication and truly aristocratic elegance of expensive, classic jewelry.
13. Necklace, Omphale, 1900
It is not surprising that the audience was fascinated, and Vever received the Grand Prix of the international exhibition. However, here the first signs appeared that in the future, perhaps, the Vever house, despite its current success, will not have such a brilliant fate as its main competitor, Lalique.
14. Pendant “La bretonne”, 1900
The fact is that at this exhibition all the works of Rene Lalique, who also received the Grand Prix, were sold out in full force, and his pavilion became one of the most, or even the most visible and striking, symbols of modernity.
As for Vever, thanks to the collaboration of Henri Vever with Eugene Grasse, this house began to be spoken of as one of the most interesting, one of the brightest representatives of Art Nouveau The famous Sylvia pendant, presented at the same exhibition, would later even become “one of “the most famous and recognizable symbols of modernity That’s just this notorious “one of” Henri Vever will never be able to get rid of this prefix and become, like Rene Lalique, the very best
15. Pendant “Sylvia”, 1900
Even now, a century after the beautiful era of Art Nouveau has sunk into the past, they continue to write about Henri Wever as a jeweler whose work at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries rose on a par with the jewelry works of Rene Lalique and already no one remembers that it was Rene Lalique who once worked in the house of Vever 16. Pendant “Witches”, 1900
There is probably some irony of fate in this: two hereditary jewelers: Georges Fouquet and Henri Vever, using the many years of achievements of their ancestors, jewelers, could not achieve the success of a nugget genius, whose talent was exceptional for his family, country, generations, epochs, and even the whole decorative art in general…
As a result, the Lalique empire successfully exists to this day, and the Vever house finally ceased to exist in 1982, never having achieved the success that the collection of Henri Vever and Eugene Grasset in 1900 gained for it. Moreover, it is quite possible that the name of Henri Wever could have been forgotten at all if it were not for the three-volume work “French Jewelry of the 19th Century” created by him, a global and still incredibly valuable study of the jewelry art of France from 1800 to 1900.
Other jewelry by Henri Vever
