This Sunday will be the birthday – certainly posthumous – of Henri Loux. And you’ve all seen his works, I’m sure, maybe even eaten in them. Sometimes I confess. But what ?! Eat in a work of art? Yes Yes. Born on February 20, 1873 in Auenheim and died on January 19, 1907 in Strasbourg, Henri Loux is, among other things, the illustrator of the so-called “Obernai” tableware. Henri Edouard Loux spent his early years in Sessenheim with his family.
His rural and happy childhood will deeply mark the work of the artist in the making. He studied at the Protestant Gymnasium in Strasbourg, then attended the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg, where he met Léo Schnug and the ceramist Léon Elchinger. He then enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he witnessed the rise of Jugendstil, Art Nouveau. He returned to Strasbourg in 1897 and settled there permanently with his mother in 1902, at 4 rue d’Erstein, Neudorf, his father having died the previous year.
It was at this time that he came into contact with the earthenware factory of Sarreguemines for which he created 36 different decorations illustrating the so-called “Obernai” crockery, illustrations which mainly represent country and village scenes with typical half-timbered houses. Alsace around 1900. The success of this tableware is such that it will eclipse the rest of his work as an illustrator and watercolourist.
We also know of a few rare oil paintings, but they have not gone down in history. Henri Loux died in 1907 in Strasbourg, in his district of Neudorf, at only 34 years old, probably from a heart condition or tuberculosis. He is buried in the Polygon Cemetery, at the Neuhof. Further south, the municipality of Gerstheim has set up a space dedicated to showcasing its extraordinary collection of Henri LOUX tableware.
But yes, we can! And why Gerstheim? Because the Gerstheimer Michel Weyl, truly passionate about Henri Loux, had collected more than 850 pieces of crockery, and the municipality of Geerscht, Gerstheim, acquired them to enhance them. In this museum space accessible free of charge, you will admire 150 pieces of crockery exhibited in 5 showcases, some rare or unique. Thanks to audioguides (French) walk in the footsteps of Henri Loux and do not miss any detail of the exhibition, it is to be seen at the town hall of Gerstheim.
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