Blue-tinted pressed Glass Medallion by Henri Navarre, circa 1950

This unique and rare work by French sculptor and glassmaker Henri-Edouard Navarre (1885–1971) is a wall medallion made of moulded glass, reproducing a relief engraving from an ancient coin, dated around 1950.

An excellent monograph on Henri Navarre was recently published by French art historian and collector Mardochée Franco, who is considered an authority on the study of his work and has helped contemporary enthusiasts rediscover its scope and originality. (Ref: "Henri Navarre. Le Verre. La Terre. La Pierre. De l'Intime au Sacré" by Mardochée Franco. Publisher: Schnoeck, 2024, 231 pages.) Although it was discussed at the time of its creation, it has nevertheless remained relatively unknown and little studied until now. This comprehensive publication therefore fortunately fills a gap.
Henri Navarre (1885–1971) was one of the great sculptors, glassmakers, ceramists and medallists of the 20th century. However, no reference work had been devoted to him until now. While the works of his contemporaries such as Lalique, Marinot, Colotte, Decorchemont, Mayodon and Lenoble are highly prized by discerning collectors, Mardoché Franco felt it was time to shine a spotlight on the artist's work. During his long career, Navarre (a member of the Institut de France) created more than a thousand vases and glass pieces using the most innovative techniques, mainly during the Art Deco period. His works are featured in the world's most prestigious museums. He also participated in the decoration of the Ile-de-France ocean liner, with monumental vases, a fountain and a glass Christ that can still be admired in the bell tower of the Sainte-Catherine church in Honfleur. As a sculptor, he created two metopes for the Palais de Chaillot in Paris and sculptures for the current Immigration Museum. Shortly before his death, Henri Navarre bequeathed his studio collection and extensive unpublished archives to the town of Chartres (Eure-et-Loir), which enabled the author to substantiate the scientific corpus of this book.
Navarre's work could not have found a better setting than the former bishop's palace, at the foot of Notre-Dame, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A stone's throw from the International Centre for Stained Glass, the glass work of the ‘sculptor of light’ thus resonates and accompanies the medieval masters of the art of fire.
Goldsmith, glassmaker, medal engraver and sculptor Henri Navarre was a consummate artist. He was born in Paris on 4 April 1885. He began sculpting wood in 1902 at the École Bernard Palissy, then became a chaser, goldsmith and craftsman in 1905. He was accepted into the École Supérieure Nationale des Beaux-Arts, which he left to pursue more technical training at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. There he studied stained glass and mosaics. From 1906 to 1911, he practised stone carving on building facades and modelled large terracotta figures. In 1924, he created the sculptures and stained glass windows for L'Intransigeant and in 1938 a large vase for the French Pavilion at the New York World's Fair. Henri Navarre was a member of the Salon d'Automne and the Société des Artistes Décorateurs, of which he was vice-president. He was also a member of the jury of the École Supérieure Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Rome competition of the Conseil Supérieur de l'Enseignement des Beaux-Arts. He was appointed Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1947. Henri Navarre created his glass sculptures, not by cutting but by stamping, like ceramics in a mould. By playing with all the effects created by the fluid, living material, he achieved areas of brilliance, flashes of transparency or, at other times, a rough matt finish, which make each of his masks, torsos and, in particular, the large Christ of the Ile de France, a work in which the glass paste and fire collaborate intimately with the artist's creative will.
Today I am offering for sale an astonishing large Pyrex glass medallion moulded in shades of blue, which is a study for one of the most successful projects of his career: a Portico of Coins designed to decorate the entrance to the gallery of La Monnaie de Paris. A project such as this
suggests that glassmaker Henri Navarre approached his creations with an architect's mindset. This Portico, dated 1950, is composed of sixteen medallions doubled in thickness with a square background, in bottle green moulded Pyrex® glass (40 x 40 cm), each inspired by the effigy of coins from Antiquity to the Napoleonic Empire. The ensemble formed an arch that adorned the Monnaie de Paris store, located at 10, rue du Quatre-Septembre, in the 2nd arrondissement. Jacques Dumont (1906-1988) was the architect and decorator. The medallions are now preserved in the Monnaie de Paris collection.
The large blue glass medallion presented today (an enlargement of a coin, engraved copy, direct cutting technique using refractory material – Pyrex – specific to glasswork at 1000 degrees) is a trial piece for this Portico, with a variation in colour and size (diameter 25 cm). The coin depicted (a horseman on his horse) is not included in the final project. It is similar to a Syracuse coin featured in the Portico.
Two examples of these Portico medallions, similar to ours but not identical, can be found in the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Chartres (Navarre donation, 1971).
- A coin from Syracuse, 5th century BC, illustrated with three figures of horses near a column, named Char du soleil (Chariot of the Sun) by the artist, 46 × 46 × 10 cm, monogram at the bottom left; inv. 89_02_13-MBAC

- A Gallic coin called Armorican and Parisian Sea Horse, gold stater, pre-Roman period, 1st century AD, illustrated with a stylised sea horse figure, 46 × 46 × 9 cm, monogram at the bottom right, inv. 89_02_14-MBAC.

A medallion with an identical motif, but darker in colour and square in shape, is kept in the private collection of Mardochée Franco in Paris. (Reproduced in full colour in his reference monograph, already cited).