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Blown glass sculpture with a blue background and abstract red and silver decoration. A few minor flaws to note. Signed Bégou and dated 5C30 under the base.
What is the glass powder technique or powder vitrification?
The glass powder technique allows the use of vitrifiable colored powders to decorate glass, either internally or on its surface. The process involves arranging the powders on a marble slab and rolling the parison over it to fuse them with the hot glass.
It was only in 1994 that the Bégou brothers found their definitive method of creation. They then specialized in the use of glass powders, which Marisa tamed to invent sumptuous compositions.
Created in the secrecy of their shared understanding, their works combine a perfect mastery of materials with the sensitivity of a creative imagination where nature is subtly reflected. Marisa is the decorator, Alain the creator of form, and each of their pieces exalts this subtle union. In the rhythm of this perfectly measured collaboration, the creation of one work leads to another.
Their pieces are made exclusively according to the rules of blown glass and it is through this demanding technique, too often excluded from the field of creation, that Alain and Marisa Bégou have imagined a free and personal expression.
In this harmonious and lyrical work, everyone will find something to dream about…
This technique was developed between 1900 and 1914 by the Daum brothers. They perfected a process called "powder vitrification," which created a superficial layer of color into which designs were then etched using acid and/or a wheel, thus avoiding the more difficult technique of multi-layered glass. In the Schneider brothers' typical 1920s production, the powders were used throughout the glass itself to create a "cloudy" decoration with "flocking" colors, as if applied in flakes by an Impressionist painter.
Currently, Marisa and Alain Begou use this technique in a pictorial manner to create veritable paintings, meticulously prepared by Marisa beforehand on marble, before being hot-glued onto the rolled parison by Alain with all the necessary dexterity.
