The exhibition was designed by the Museum of the School of Nancy and illustrates the innovative nature of this living environment, where the most modern technical processes of the time were implemented to produce furniture and objects both functional, with an unprecedented aesthetic, and within reach of all budgets.

The main ambition of L’École de Nancy was transforming the living environment, improving it by taking inspiration from forms drawn from nature. The many industrialists, artists and architects who participated in the association affirmed their role as disseminators of a new aesthetic inseparable from a new way of life. This formula was later invented to summarize their vocation: “art for all, and art in everything!“.

The creative process, the technical innovations, the tools and the places of diffusion are illustrated by the creations of the teachers of the School of Nancy, Gallé, Majorelle, Daum and Vallin, but also of manufactures or more modest workshops.

Furniture, glassware, ceramics, drawings, everyday objects, photographs or textiles constitute a corpus of nearly 300 works, from the Nancy collections, major international museums (Musée d’Orsay, Museum of Fine Arts Lyon, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf …) and private lenders.

The masterpieces, unique pieces or small series, cohabit with the large series pieces whose wide distribution through stores and catalogs, has contributed to the international recognition of the home of Lorraine decorative and industrial art. “The human” is also at the heart of the project with evocations of “masters”, their workers, their collaborators.

Location: Nancy Musée des Beaux Arts – 3 Place Stanislas, 54000 Nancy, France
Opening times: Opens every day except Tuesday, from 10h to 18h
Price: 7€ / reduced: 4€
Guided tour: Sunday at 3 pm, 4€ + entrance ticket
With the exceptional support of the Musée d’Orsay

Download the press kit of the Art Nouveau and Art Industry exhibition in Nancy