A Touch of Glass

story Vincent Bouvet photographs Sam Armstrong Fast cars, bright lights, and streamlined design A TOUCH gleamed in the 1920s, as did René Lalique’s radiator mascots. Made of shimmering mold- pressed glass, instead of the usual metal, the art deco designer’s hood ornaments offered OF GLASS a finishing touch to any stylish luxury car Previous pages: a close-up ready to fly. Also available hood of a 1938 Packard of Victory, also known as was a clever device for Twelve Torpedo Cabriolet. Spirit of the Wind, shows lighting the mascot from Produced for the 10th the satin finish of the inside, adapted with a anniversary of the Armistice skin and clear glass of rotating disk to create in 1928, the mascot was a the streaming, wind-blown the illusion that the insect great success at the Salon hair. Opposite: the Large was beating its wings in de l’Automobile in Paris that Dragonfly holds up its time with the car’s speed. year, where it was mounted amethyst-tinted wings, Below: Victory on the on a luxurious Minerva In the new world that emerged from the meant that the radiator cap was no longer a In 1925 Lalique brought out Five Horses, upheavals of the Great War, the myth of necessity, it was felt that this decoration at Comet, and Falcon, and in 1926, the Archer. speed and its accompanying machine aes- the end of the hood made the car’s look The year 1928 was prolific, with the Dwarf thetic became the hallmark of the Roaring complete. In the 1920s and ’30s thousands Cockerel; various heads – Sparrowhawk, Ram, Twenties. Cultural life reflected the mania of mascots were made all around the world, Eagle, Cockerel, and Peacock; a Greyhound; for constant movement, whether by auto- so that each driver could stand out in keeping Saint Christopher; a Swallow; Dragonfly (small mobile, train, or steamer – think of Pacific with his imagination (and wallet). Human and large); a Frog; and Victory. In 1929 231 (or Mouvement symphonique n° 1), Arthur or animal figures, these stylized mascots Longchamp A, and B, Epsom, Wild Boar, Honegger’s 1923 musical evocation of the were nearly all molded in metal with a Perch, Speed, Houdan Cockerel, and Guinea locomotive; or Paul Morand’s mainly auto- chrome, silver, or polished bronze finish. Fowl appeared. This line of radiator caps biographical stories of a man in a hurry, René Lalique offered a range of 30 came to an end with Fox in 1930 and L’Homme pressé (1941); or, then again, different models, inspired as ever by the Chrysis in 1931. The height of the mascots, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and so many others. female form and the animal kingdom (but without mount, ranged from 3.5 to 8 inches After World War I the motorcar took not flowers, the great theme of his jewelry). and the width from 4.7 to 10 inches. over cities. In Berlin, continental Europe’s Victory (0r Spirit of the Wind), Five Horses, The horse features prominently in the first traffic lights were set up on Potsdamer Speed, Epsom, Longchamp A, and B, Comet, catalog, as you would expect from man’s Platz. In Paris, on the Champs-Élysées, the Fox, Owls, and several other models, noblest conquest. Five Horses, designed for leading auto manufacturers opened lavish such as Chrysis, were conceived as radiator Citröen in 1925, is the only mascot that was showrooms. Car races and rallies were pop- caps, with a chrome ring at the base for actually commissioned by a car manufac- ular entertainments and social events. In fitting them. Lalique’s mascots were pro- turer. Epsom (with a satin finish and polished the microcosm of endless leisure immortal- duced in white mold-pressed glass, which mane) and Longchamp evoke the legendary ized by the photographer Jacques-Henri could be patinated, opalescent, or colored. racecourses in England and France, while Lartigue, “automobile elegance” competi- No mascot was made in crystal. the lines of the latter appear to have been tions showcased the combined talents of a inspired by the friezes of the Parthenon. couturier – Jeanne Lanvin, Jean Patou, or The theme of hunting is illustrated by Madeleine Vionnet – with that of a coach- the Falcon, Greyhound, Guinea Fowl, Fox, builder such as Henri Binder, Jean-Henri and Wild Boar, while Frog and Owl continue Labourdette, or Henri Chapron. If the car the countryside subject. The heads include was an essentially male passion, in 1925 it a fine series of birds – Eagle, Sparrowhawk, also inspired Sonia Delaunay to transform Peacock, and Cockerel – and a Ram. All are a Citroën B12 into an artistic manifesto on creatures with connotations of triumph, wheels, with colorful geometric motifs like even aggression. The Comet, whose move- her women’s suits and accessories. ment echoes the jewel of the same name The jeweler and glassmaker René Lalique designed by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in (1860–1945) made his first professional 1932, dominates the earth, while the Perch foray into the world of the motorcar in has the waviness of the river just as the 1906, when he designed a gold plate for Dragonfly and Swallow suggest the move- the winner of the Targa Vincenzo Florio, ments of the air. a perilous race around the roads of Sicily. There are few representations of human But it was only in 1925 that he started forms. The Siren and Naiad belong to the producing radiator caps (or mascots) to genre of fantasy. Victory is more symbol than adorn the grilles of luxury cars. Although person, with its satin finish and polished PHOTOGRAPHS: WITH THANKS TO NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM, BEAULIEU ALAMY PHOTOGRAPHS: WITH THANKS TO NATIONAL the disappearance of visible cooling circuits hair blowing in the wind. Only Speed and PATEK PHILIPPE 19 Opposite: this regal Peacock head down, tail and wings in 1922. Below, right: also Head (left), designed in pointing up into the air. designed in 1928, this A luminous cap for motorcar 1928, is of clear and Below, left: in 1925 André Dwarf Cockerel is made satin-finished glass but Citröen commissioned of topaz glass, with smoky radiators could light the there were also some rare the prancing Five Horses brown colored tail feathers blue turquoise examples (here made of amethyst- and crest. The signature made; and the Swallow tinted glass) for his new “R Lalique” is on the base mascots from inside (also 1928, and made of 5CV, an homage to the first clear glass) daintily dips its Torpedo launched by Citroën Chrysis seem to be enjoying the sensation 1929, describes the “luminous cap for on metal mounts signed in its own name. interwar years, along with a collection of started collecting when, as an expert angler, the Toyota Automobile Museum, Nagakute. of the wind over their naked bodies, as motorcar radiators” that used a six-volt The firm sold Siren as a mascot, for more than one hundred radiator caps. The a Perch caught his eye at an auction. He The market itself abounds in fake pieces, suggested by their arched postures. With dynamo-driven lighting system to light example, which never happened in France. Mullin Automotive Museum in California researched the work of René Lalique and while many of the originals are chipped or its intaglio motif and satin finish, Archer, the mascots from inside. The brightness In 1929, Lalique designed a leaping is another repository of art deco automobile was hooked. Other acquisitions followed. have abraded bases. (If you’re interested, by the simplicity of its lines held within varied with the car’s speed and the time of Greyhound for the Prince of Wales (the art, where a number of the Bugattis, Delages, Today, all Haynes needs to complete his you can keep abreast of current values via a circle, evokes antique sculpture, while day. A little blade of dyed glass or a sheet future Edward VIII), which would be an Delahayes, Hispano-Suizas, Avions Voisins, collection are the Comet, Owl, and Fox, which online sales catalogs or the aggregator for Saint Christopher recalls the traditional, of gelatin in the light was all that was extremely limited edition. and Talbot-Lagos sport superb mascots. is not surprising as they are the most international sales on rlalique.com.) reassuring figure of the patron saint of needed to color the whole thing. For safety reasons, car mascots began to And finally, since 2018 Britain’s National sought-after. The demand for rare pieces is At the end of his life, René Lalique had travelers. The legend goes that in the early The British market had a passion for disappear from the catalog in 1937, but Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire, has international, and high prices reflect that, become a veritable living treasure. In 1945, twentieth century the first ever mascot Lalique’s designs, and he himself was an their sale continued in England. Lalique been the home of a private collection of 28 especially for those in good condition. Given when he died, the catalog of Lalique products was a statue of Saint Christopher, placed on Anglophile, having studied in London at marketed objects created from the same Lalique mascots. The ensemble, which was their fragility, mascots without chips are hard contained more than 1,500 models for glass an automobile owned by the second Baron Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and models and molds as decorative statues, put together in only six years, is currently to find.Victory is probably the most precious objects. Today, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Montagu of Beaulieu. Literature from 1876 to 1878. To meet the paperweights, or bookends, mounted onto on loan and the museum is seeking funds to piece in Haynes’s collection, with a value and Mercedes keep the tradition of the car The transparency of the mascots’ glass high demand for mascots, Lalique’s exclu- bases of black opaline glass.

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