Albertville 1992, winner's medal, gold
Marie-Claude Lalique1992
The Olympic Museum
Lausanne, Switzerland
On the colourless crystal, the artist etched into the back of the medal a symbolic representation of the force of the mountains. Five Olympic rings appear in the foreground, linked together, and standing out from the valley, which is worked in a graded satin finish giving an impression of depth and perspective. On the gold metal of the medal, a stylised laurel branch is engraved in intaglio and on the lower part, the words “XVI Olympic Winter Games” are similarly engraved in French and English. A right-angled metal attachment holds the wide silver-coloured ribbon with the Olympic colours in the centre.
- Title: Albertville 1992, winner's medal, gold
- Creator Lifespan: April 1935 - 14 April 2003
- Creator Nationality: French
- Creator Gender: Female
- Creator Death Place: Captiva Island, Florida
- Creator Birth Place: France
- Date Created: 1992
- Location Created: France
- Physical Dimensions: w92 x h9 cm (Complete)
- Designer: Marie-Claude Lalique
- Description: 110 gold medals were struck for the Albertville 1992 Games
- Collection information: The Olympic medals were for the first time struck in crystal and set in gold, silver or bronze, which was a great technical innovation. The choice of such a material was deliberate: it recalled the rock extracted from the Savoie mountains. They were entirely hand-made and required numerous precise and meticulous stages in the manufacturing processes of the metal and the glass. The manufacture of these medals entailed 35 successive stages, each by a different person, and several hundreds of hours' work at Lalique were devoted to the 330 Olympic medals. The medals were designed under the supervision of Marie Claude Lalique.
- Artistic school or movement: For 17 years, Marie-Claude Lalique ran the legendary French crystal company founded by her grandfather, Rene Jules Lalique, the 19th and early 20th century creator of art glass. She was responsible for expanding the family name to other luxury items. After studying at the National Decorative Arts School in Paris, Marie-Claude Lalique worked with her father, Marc Lalique. Faithful to the company’s traditions, she nonetheless gave a new impetus to the models created. Working with crystal, she created jewellery, but felt it important to create unusual, not to say sophisticated designs, rather than merely displaying expensive jewels. To this end, she used semi-precious stones and enamel to create her works. The medals for Albertville 1992 were designed under the supervision of Marie Claude Lalique.
- Type: Medals
- Rights: International Olympic Committee, ©IOC/G.Peter
- Medium: Crystal glass set in gold
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