Modernists, makers and masters
When it comes to jewellery design, few names resonate with the term “heavyweight” as well as Maison Fouquet. The artistic contributions of the father-and-son duo Georges Fouquet and Jean Fouquet, though different in aesthetics, revolutionized the art of jewelry design.
The Fouquet name represents a remarkable legacy of artistic innovation and craftsmanship. Georges Fouquet and Jean Fouquet shared a common thread of innovation and excellence in craftsmanship and even though they worked across two distinct artistic movements (the first as a master of art nouveau and the latter of art deco) they basically “formed” the world of jewellery in the late 19th and early 20th century. Through their jewellery and nonconventional ideas and notions when it came to decorative arts they both came to define the artistic movements of their respective eras.
Georges Fouquet – pioneer in two aesthetic movements
Georges Fouquet (1862-1957) emerged as one of the most influential jewelers of the art nouveau period. His father Alphonse Fouquet (1828-1911) opened his boutique 1862 on rue du Temple in Paris and Georges joined him in the family business and workshop in Paris 1891. Succeeding Alphonse in 1895, Georges quickly became renowned for his quite audacious, intricate and nature-inspired designs that pushed the boundaries of traditional jewellery conventions.
Collabs
Always looking for originality Georges Fouquet often commissioned ideas from artists from outside the jewellery world.
Collaborating with Czech artist and illustrator Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) – who also designed the new Paris boutique in 1901 – he created some of the most striking jewelry pieces of the era, characterized by organic natural motifs, flowing lines and an interplay of materials like enamel and ivory, mother-of-pearl and gemstones.
The early 1900s
Fouquet and Mucha’s long collaboration and close teamwork was showcased at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 and their quite theatrical lines of jewellery became an iconic representation of the art nouveau style.
The jewellery were almost wearable sculptures and the French actress Sarah Bernhardt was one of those who loved to wear them. (Perhaps/probably inspired by Alphonse Mucha who was her creative director.)
One of Georges Fouquet’s most celebrated jewellery pieces were a exotic, serpent-themed necklace designed especially for her.
But the art nouveau lost its appeal and perhaps here we see the real greatness of Georges Fouquet. As style changed he was ready to move with the times and rose as a powerful and creative force when it came to drive and steer the jewellery industry into the new art deco movement.
Georges Fouquet about why he worked with artists from outside the jewellery world:
“The architect will supply general lines, levels and overall construction; the sculptor will supply his knowledge of relief; the painter, the shimmering play of colours.”
New roaring times
In 1925 Georges Fouquet became the president of the admission committee for jewellery at the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. In this role he opted for jewellers with a new and original vision. He also hand-picked the Swedish-French architect and designer Eric Bagge to design the jewellery pavilion at the Grand Palais. Bagge also came to design jewellery for the Maison Fouquet, for example pendants, in platinum with onyx, crystal and diamonds, exhibited at the 1925 Exposition.
Free-thinking artists and innovative expos
Fouquet continued to work and collaborate with new and innovative thinking artists when it came to designing the company’s statement pieces. Amongst them were the French painter and commercial poster artist Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron (perhaps more known as Cassandre), the sculptor Jean Lambert-Rucki, the architect Georges-Henri Pingusson and the painter André Léveillé.
Archive donation
Georges Fouquet donated his archive to Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Click the link to see his sketches. The museum paid a tribute to all of the three Fouquet family members in 1984.
Georges Fouquet, June 1929:
“It is incontestable that in a certain number of years our jewels will be sought after for collections and museums where they will have their place.”
Jean Fouquet – the art deco innovateur
Jean Fouquet’s (1899–1984) first plan was not to become a jeweller. Instead he studied literature and contributed, for example, to L’Esprit Nouveau, the magazine co-founded by famous architect Le Corbusier.
Jean is also said to have wanted to become a lawyer, was a Communist, writer of detective stories and loved to entertain his friends with songs. In short; an idealistic, creative, optimistic but especially innovative dreamer.
Eventually he joined the family business, even though he was not directly involved in running the Maison of Fouquet, and his designs created between 1925 and 1931 were among the most audacious and innovative of the period.
In 1925, Jean Fouquet won an award at the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. During the years between 1926 and 1928, he exhibited at the Société des Artistes Décorateurs and later at exhibitions of the Union des Artistes Modernes.
The Modernist
Jean carried on the family tradition and legacy but with his own distinctive modernist approach. He became a leading figure of the art deco movement, known for his bold designs that contrasted sharply with the fluid, nature-inspired early aesthetics of his father. (Even though he visited this artistic taste to some degree later in life.)
With an innovative mix of architecturally precise, clean lines together with bold colorful geometric patterns, he fully embraced new materials and forms.
Jean Fouquet:
“A piece of jewellery must be composed of masses clearly visible from a distance. Objects glimpsed at top speed become distorted and we can only perceive them by their volume. The ultrarapid and slow-motion rhythms of the images on screen overwhelm our visual perceptions. Today we have become accustomed to reading quickly.”
Materials
Jean Fouquet continued the Maison of Fouquet’s use of unconventional materials and gemstones such as platinum (but usually he preferred grey gold and semiprecious stones to diamonds), lacquer, ebony, chrome-plated steel, onyx and rock crystal.
In fact, Jean Fouquet may have been the first jeweller who used rock crystal as the entire body of the jewellery piece, in a very avant-garde parure set (ring and bracelet) with faceted amethysts and moonstone cabochons in 1931. This piece may have sparked something in designers like Suzanne Belperron, Rene Boivin and Mouboussin who later frequently used this specific technique.
Jean’s abstract pieces reflected the progressive spirit of the early 20th century. Inspired by the avant-garde movement, cubism and the machine age, some of his most famous creations were a series of modular pieces that could be transformed or worn in multiple ways – an architectural precursor to the modernist jewellery of the mid-20th century.
Jean Fouquet:
”[Jewellery] is to our clothing what gold and silverware are to our homes. It places a vivid mark, a highlight on the simplicity of contemporary women’s clothing.”
Always a fighter
Jean Fouquet remained at the cutting edge and startlingly modern all through his working life. He continued to design jewellery in his own name, but they were from 1936, made by different workshops. Militant as ever, he refused to work during the occupation of France during WWII. After the war he resumed his work and in 1958 he received a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Brussels.
Jewellery as art – the Fouquet legacy
Today, Georges and Jean Fouquet’s works are precious treasures in museums and private collections worldwide and their legacies endure. The financial crisis of 1929 forced the Maison Fouquet into bankruptcy and it closed it doors completely in 1936, but whether through the delicate and sinuous, flowing curves of Georges’ jewel pieces or the structured geometry of Jean, the name Fouquet remains synonymous with beauty, craftsmanship, innovation and their redefining of modern jewellery.
Fun fact!
The store that Alphonse Mucha designed for the Fouquet family, at 6 rue Royale, is preserved and at display at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.©SlowClapStories
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