Decorative Arts

Art Nouveau really put the craftsmen to work. A major design element was mosaic.All the Train stations in the Savoie region have the town name in mosaic, with the background being gold tesserae. You notice the shield that looks like the Swiss flag? That is the shield or flag of the region – Savoie, the Swiss have the same white cross on a red background, but it doesn’t go from edge to edge.Even the station is the tiny town of Le Buet has this mosaic. I wonder if they have some artists employed to fix or replace these when they get damaged.Was the Q reversed by mistake? I have to admit that I just noticed that right now.These three images are from the same building, from very ornate to a very simple design. Yet, each has gold.This one from Montreux. That alphabet – pure Art Nouveau. I wonder if it took 37 years to build the building, or if the date means something else. Also, the ironwork of this period is intricate. This is when cast iron became very popular. On the railing, there is both, as well as the use of gold paint.A more modern railing, Art Deco maybe?This beauty was out in the country. It’s the name of this house:Although the house is out in the country, in a prosperous farming community, it doesn’t look like a farmers house. Except for the pickup in front. I wish the architect had included the year this was built. I googled, there is an architect by the same name in Indiana. The building at 2 Rue de Berne still stands and commands very high rent. But no other information.Speaking of mosaics. While wandering around the old city of Geneva we came across L’ancien arsenal. There were a few canons and these wonderful mosaics that describe some of the history of Gevena. This was the open air market in Roman times. By the 15 century, it was turned into the arsenal. Today the building holds the State archives as well as three beautiful mosaics that depict important historical events connected to the city. It’s not easy finding information about these. The artist is named Alexandre Cingria, like most Swiss artists – to most of the world he is a complete unknown. Aside from painting, he designed stained glass for Churches. He wanted to infuse more color and livliness into Swiss Protestant churches. That didn’t go so well in a Calvinist country. So I guess he had to make do with these vibrant scenes outside the arsenal. He died in 1945, the little information I could find said that these were created in 1949, which makes sense. Even if Switzerland was ‘Neutral’ during WWII (hiding Nazi funds in your banks doesn’t exactly make you neutral, it just guarantees that the Nazis will leave you alone), I doubt they spent any time creating art until after the war. So the designs must have been made beforehand. I do love the large stones and pieces of glass that are used here gives these mosaics a very strong tactile feel.I took a close up of this creature decorating one of the cannons.I can understand why had a problem with sparse Calvinist churches. Although Calvin himself was happy to march into the Catholic Cathedral and preach there. Today it is a Protestant Church, Cathedral is a Catholic term. As much as they have tried to simplify things, notice the light fixture, at least they didn’t get rid of the stain glass windows.Like my love for mosaic, there is something about stained glass that makes my heart sing.

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