Paris glass and Lucien Helle

[erik winkler]

The weekend of 29th Oktober I have planned a studytrip to Paris.
The things i want to study at close eye are the decorative glass shopfronts made around 1900-1940 and nowadays by Lucien Helle
I have studied his website, his locations and tried to make an apointment with him.
Lucien apparently did not speak English so our conversation went on in French.
I introduced my self as a Dutch guy who is very interested in the old craft and asked him if it would be possible to meet eachother and talk glass in his shop in Paris.
Result: "He freaked out and clearly stated that no one is allowed in his shop and especially not other glass fanantics!
The phone was abruptly ended from the paris side....

But as you know me, I can not rest untill I have answers.
I pursued my quest for knowledge and researched for weeks now all there is to know or find about the Parisian glass shopfronts.
In a French book I recently purchased there were a lot of clues: Most of the shopfronts posted on the Lucien Helle website were actualy not made by him but by other studios like Benoit et Fils who worked about 80 years ago.
In the studio everybody had their own speciality: gilding, painting on canvas, woodworking etc.

During my research I noted down every shopname, every streetname and shop number and looked on the google maps streetview to find out if the glass shopfronts are still there.
Some buildings are torn down on other locations the glass is hidden from view by wooden panels (often covered by several different layers of paint and old posters or graffiti).
At this point most likely I know more about the shop facade than the current shop owners.

All the remaining adresses are in my google map for you to look at and visit if you are about to make a trip to Paris.

I will visit allmost all the locations in the end of Oktober and will photograph them.
If you have any questions on certain details you want to know more about, now it is time to ask me, so I can take a closer look at that when I will be there.


Erik

[Roderick Treece]

Eric,
I to have tried in vein to contact Mr. Helle, At one time I found an article on a web site called Ruavista that talked about glass signs.
http://www.ruavista.com/glass.htm

"Reverse painted glass signs are rarely produced today. Certain shops, in search of an authentic touch, call on one of the few craftsmen still using reverse glass painting techniques (In Paris, Lucien Helle, 2 rue du Pas-de-la-Mule 0144789669). In contrast, these signs were quite popular at the end of the 19th century, as the only alternative to painted signs. Today, parisian bakeries still testify to craftsmen's skills of that era. But, reverse painted glass signs were certainly not exclusive to bakeries. The photo gallery presented here shows the diversity among shops of this time period, in addition to the variety of typography used in sign production."

Someone really needs to write an updated article despelling this idea that glass signs are rarely produced this days. Who know maybe it will be you !

[BruceJackson]

Erik,

That would be my dream trip. For years I've wanted to see those Parisian signs first-hand. Unfortunately, the cost of travelling to France is prohibitive. it has always seemed like the impossible dream to actually get there. I am insanely jealous. hahaha

I hope you have a great camera. I want to see lots of photos. Context shots of the building, close-ups, even photos of the back, anything that helps to illuminate the techniques used and show how it was done.

It's a pity you had this type of phone call with M. Helle. I wonder if there was not some misunderstanding. I had some email correspondence with him a few months ago and he didn't seem to be this way. In fact he invited me to visit him if I come to Paris.

I suggest you give him another opportunity because he is clearly passionate and interested in his work.

You probably already have these, but a couple of books featuring Benoist & Fils work and other Parisian signs:

Boulangerie by Rambali, Paul 1994. Macmillan, New York

Entrez, Signs of France by Acimen A. and Rothfeld S. 2001. Artisan, New York

[erik winkler]

Roderick, there is change that Mister H. will have a nice tall visitor who will put his boot in the door opening; and I am not selling god. haha.
Bruce, I will make as many photo's I can possibly make.

Mike, Any tips on the camera, filters or angles I should use?

Erik

[Ingrid Mager]

......Mike, Any tips on the camera, filters or angles I should use?

Erik

Not Mike here, but just remember that flash is going to make a big nasty glare on any flat glass surface.
Of course, a tripod with a nice open lens would be the best way to go, but I am not yet getting the warm feeling that this fellow will be welcoming that, and you may have to grab what PIX you can get fast.

Here is one approach: Photograph the piece from an angle using direct flash. Make sure no flash glare gets in the glass and that the entire piece is evenly illuminated and in sharp focus. When back at home or studio, you can square the work up in Photoshop and "distort" the image back to square. These options will be found under EDIT>>TRANSFORM.
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I too, am so envious.....half of me feels I should have been born in Europe as I have always felt so passionate about all the history and art there. You don't know how lucky you are!

~Inga

[erik winkler]

Bruce,

I have these two books, have one other written in French.
Will send you some scans.
I will email Lucien, maybe he misunderstood me on the phone or I just suprised him out of the blue.
Anyway, I will make this budget train trip to Paris and will make all the photo's you want.

Erik

[erik winkler]

Okidokieee,

Last night I returned from my Paris glass excursion.
On friday afternoon after work (16:30) I went with a girlfriend on the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris.
We arrived about 8 at night on Gare du Nord in downtown Paris, walked 10 minutes dumped our suitcase in the itsypitsy tiny hotelroom and immediatly went for a walk.
Walking through the region near Metro station Saint Denis we saw a wooden facade of a restaurant, we were hungry an wanted to celibrate the arrival of the study trip.
I thought this restaurant looked ok and lord behold it was magnificent!!!!!!!
The art nouveau tiles on the floor, the complete coverage of stained glass on the ceiling, the curlywurly stucco ornaments on the wall, the 3 toned white etched glass on the toilet doors,
the white etched round lightbulbs and most of all the beautifully art nouveau produced coloured glazed clay plaguettes on the wall.
The food was perfect and the bill at the end of the dream was like a hammer on my head!!!

After our introduction we went budget and made our own baquettes with the most smelly cheese you can imagine: YEAH!!!!

After studying Lucien Helle and his presesters (again excuse me for my spelling, I am Dutch; hope you understand what I write) I noted every adress that I could find.
Every lead, every rumor, every book that was out there I looked up on google maps, with street view I reseached if the glass facade was still there, was not hidden away by some wooden boards,
or the builiding was not demolised down etc etc. The glass facades that were still there to see were all saved in my own Google map.

After that a plastic sealed map of Paris was bought and all the spots were noted down, after wich Marlies (girlfriend) made an two day routetrip so we could try to cover all the spots by foot and by metro.
It was running, running and running for two days, from 8 in the morning untill 8 at night! I did the Paris half marathon once without training, I thought that was crazy (had a pretty good time, I must say),
but this was even more crazy!. We must have walked the full marathon this time. I have a limp now eventhough I do not have blisters.

Ofcourse you want to see some photo's so here they are:

Map.jpg (57.06 KiB) Viewed 5092 times

Map detail.jpg (81.63 KiB) Viewed 5044 times

Paris 1.jpg (82.82 KiB) Viewed 5101 times

Paris 2.jpg (80.88 KiB) Viewed 5076 times

Paris 3.jpg (106.11 KiB) Viewed 5053 times

Erik et Fills

[Anthony Bennett]

Really cool pictures, thanks for sharing Erik.