User:Localcosmos/A. E. Grossé

The house A.E. Grossé (1899-1981) or Antoinette-Emilienne Grossé was a Belgian atelier for liturgical textiles, as well as a trade in church ornaments, located at the Simon Stevinplaats in Bruges, with representation in London. It was a continuation of Louis Grossé's studio.

History
The French passementerie weaver Jean Josse Grossé (1743-1820) had settled in Ghent in 1783. His sons Jean-Baptiste (1767-1844) and Jean François (1774-1848) settled in Bruges from 1791. The latter, married in 1803 to Isabelle Rooman (1780-1841), expanded the company under the name Grossé-Rooman. Fabrics, haberdashery and embroidery were supplied, from 1830 mainly for the army.

After his marriage to Colette Coucke (1822-1886), his son Louis Grossé (1811-1899) founded his own and competing studio in the same city in 1843. The emphasis was on ecclesiastical embroidery. In close collaboration with Bruges clergy and English art critics, including A.W.N. Pugin and T.H. King, the studio revived the Middle Ages, a period that was seen as a high point for the Catholic Church. Grossé studied the old embroidery techniques and reintroduced them. This made him famous far beyond the borders. The introduction of the medieval model of liturgical vestments was controversial. The return of the stiff and narrow robes of the early nineteenth century to the originally very wide and flexible robes led to discussions worldwide. This reform was stopped around 1863 by the intervention of the Vatican.

Takeover
Louis Grossé's children each went their own way. Louis Grossé Junior (Ghent, November 22, 1840 - Bruges, October 31, 1929) founded a studio for glass painting under the name Grossé-De Herde, Godefroid Grossé (Bruges, March 9, 1859 - Comblain-au-Pont, September 12, 1919) specialised became involved in mosaic art and Joseph Grossé (Bruges, December 13, 1856 - May 5, 1910) also set up his own studio, where, in addition to embroidery, he was involved in the production of enamel.

As a result, Louis' daughter Antoinette-Emilienne Grossé (Bruges, October 19, 1862 - November 15, 1954) was eligible to take over the family business. She had run the London subsidiary together with her brother Joseph and sister Elisa for more than 15 years.

In the years 1918-1921, Louis Monthaye (Bruges, March 10, 1892 - February 7, 1921), a cousin of Antoinette-Emilienne Grossé, took over the management of the company. However, his premature death put Antoinette-Emilienne back at the head of the studio. It flourished under her leadership. From 1922 she was supported by her niece Madeleine Grossé, daughter of Joseph Grossé, and by her husband Jozef Van Hauwermeiren.

Reforms
Following her father, Antoinette-Emilienne Grossé introduced innovations soon after taking office. In 1902 the studio again produced chasubles of the most original model – the closed semicircle –, this time for the Leuven professor and later Archbishop of Mechelen Désiré-Joseph Mercier (1851-1926). She had discussed the use of this model with the new professor of church history at the Bruges Major Seminary Kamiel Callewaert (1866-1943), who had proposed gradually reintroducing the original model. Callewaert would become one of the great predecessors of the Liturgical Movement, which strove to return to the original liturgy of the church, with its associated forms.

The Bulletin des Métiers d'Art of 1912 shows which models were supplied by the A.E. workshop. Grosse. At that moment the chasuble reached halfway down the arms. The robes of supple silk damask, with simple bands and decorated with simple symbols, show a sobriety that has not been seen for a long time. The patterns of the silk damasks were the same as before, but the use was different; the stiff lining and reinforcement were omitted and the model allowed for a smooth drape. The robes are decorated with simple geometric decorations, on a 'geometric basis’. This publication could give the impression that Grossé's studio was already limited to the production of modern work at that time. This is not the case; the demand for wide chasubles was limited until the 1920s and expensive embroidered works continued to be produced in the technique 'of our unsurpassed Flemish embroiderers from the Middle Ages'. Around 1920 the robes became even wider. The chasuble reached down to the wrists and was no longer provided with a Roman cross, but with a prong cross, the arms of which run over the shoulders. Chops had real, small hoods. Dalmatians had closed sleeves, entirely in accordance with the ideals of the parament reformers. The decoration was secondary to this form. Modern, flexible fabrics were used. These fabrics were partly woven to their own design and used early Christian motifs. Under Antoinette-Emilienne Grossé, new shades were developed, more muted than the sometimes false nineteenth-century shades. The liturgical color white became ivory, green became moss or olive green, purple had a strong red accent, red a brown accent. Many years later, companies in Lyon and Krefeld talked about the so-called Grossé colours.

In the first quarter of the century, stylistic and financial considerations had shifted from detailed silk embroidery to appliqué technique. The symbolic motifs, executed in this technique, were highly stylised; they had to remain clearly visible from a distance. The plain applications, in the style of art deco, are often trimmed with laid gold thread, accents are applied in tambour stitch. The design of these paraments is balanced in all respects: the combination of muted tones, where the golden accents light up the whole, the division of ornament and space and the combination of fabric and model.

1940-1980
After the Second World War, the style of the studio changed dramatically. Designs by Michel Martens and D.B., among others. Groenendaal followed the primitive style of the German School that emerged in the 1930s. In addition, the Dutch monumental style of studios such as J.L. Sträter followed. In 1950, the management of the company was taken over by Madeleine Grossé and her husband Jozef van Hauwermeiren, who had been employed since 1923. The studio continued to exist under her name, even after the death of Antoinette-Emilienne Grossé in 1954. Freddy Duwel, a cousin of Jozef van Hauwermeiren, was responsible for the almost abstract designs from the 1960s. The studio would continue to follow the prevailing fashion and deliver good quality products, but would never again equal its pre-war fame.

In 1981, the family business was taken over by Michel Vernimme from the Arte studio and was given the name Arte/Grossé. The building on Simon Stevinplaats was abandoned. The company archive was housed in the Bruges City Archives.

Organisation
The company archive provides good insight into the state of affairs. The majority of orders were placed through representatives. Every customer and supplier was recorded in a card system, with an overview of purchases and special agreements. Numbers refer to the order books, in which the representatives accounted for each visit and the resulting orders. Photos were taken of all delivered models, which the representatives could take to their customers. Deliveries were made worldwide. Many countries had hundreds to more than a thousand customers. This not only concerns churches, but also monasteries, schools, hospitals and seminaries. In the 1920s and 1930s, A.E. Grossé among the most successful suppliers in Europe.

In the Sint-Jozef district of Bruges, a street is named after Antoinette Grossé.