Jaqueline "Jacotte" Hubin and Roger Capron, Vallauris (Picasso Inspiration?)

Jaqueline "Jacotte" Hubin and Roger Capron, Vallauris

      Vallauris is a commune in southeastern France near Cannes.  During the middle of the  20th century it became a producer of some the most innovative, free-spirited and accomplished art pottery of the time.  While this region has a long history of making European pottery, it hadn't gained notoriety until the emergence of artists like Clement Massier, and George and Suzanne Ramie.  Pablo Picasso is the most well known of the Mid century Vallauris potters and his works are well documented but there are other great lesser known Artists from that region that deserve our respect and adoration.  Artists that inspired Picasso himself and gave way to the birth of a abstractism and contemporary pottery art as we know it today.  

       A couple of these artists are Jaqueline "Jacotte" Hubin and Roger Capron.  Roger was a French ceramist born in 1922 and Jacqueline, a Vallauris native, was born in 1935. Roger, a former student the School of Applied Arts to Art and Industry of Paris, travelled to Vallauris in the company of Robert Picault in 1446.  He wasted no time in creating his first ceramics workshop named “Callis” in 1947. Artist Jean Derval joins them that same year. In 1952 he left the “Callis” workshop for a small ceramics creations factory.  In 1953 he exhibited at the “Maison de la Chimie” with Jean Jouve and Line Vautrin. His creations were colorful and modern with linear concepts and abstract forms.  Wonderfully geometric with occasional incised Paleolithic imagery of animals or human figures. He utilized many different techniques including “garrigues stoneware”.  In 1955 he married Jacqueline Hubin AKA “Jacotte”, his collaborator-to be and artist in her own right.  Although their works of art still today adorn the streets of Vallaurus and souther France, Roger and his wife struggled financially , at one point filling for bankruptcy and selling their patents.  Roger died in 2008 and Jacqueline in 2016. 

     I found the above piece of " Jacotte's" work at  an estate sale.  This piece seems to me heavily inspired by Picasso, or maybe it was Picasso inspired by Jacotte. 

Most Valuable Pottery Marks- Pablo Picasso

                

Most Valuable Pottery Marks

Picasso Ceramics

    In the 1940's Pablo Picasso, inspired by a visit to a Vallauris Pottery exhibit, began crafting and designing his own line of pottery with the help of Suzanne and Georges Ramie. He used their workshop in the South of France and over time produced 25 years worth of Picasso Pottery. Even though Pablo Picasso only designed most of the ceramics and did not actually throw them with his own hands they are still worth incredible amounts of money.  And because of his continued popularity, his ceramics are in high demand. A Picasso Madoura Edition Ceramic piece on can bring $2000-200,000, and if you happen to find an original painted by the master himself it could bring as much as $3,000,000.  

              

                                      

                                  

                           

                                    

                          

Guido Gambone

   

Jackson Pollock

      I recently watched a documentary titled Mural: The Story of a Modern Masterpiece. It's a film about a famous Jackson Pollock painting commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim and gifted to the University of Iowa in 1948.  The painting is an immense (8’ 1 1/4” x 19’ 10”) abstract mid-century masterpiece, colorful and layered. Dark abstract figures in a procession of movement drift across the canvas while the surrounding atmosphere comes alive with typical intense Pollock brushwork infused with energy and color.  What is it about certain artists that draws you in and comforts your senses?
 
     Guido Gambone is one of these artists. Guido was born in 1908 near Avellino, Italy. When he was a teenager his family moved to Vietra, an area well known for pottery.  He soon quite school and took an internship at Francesco Avallone's ceramic manufacturer. Later he trained at ICS and eventually became the director. Over the years the founded his own pottery manufacturers La Faezeralla and La Tirenna. Guido became one the primary firgures in the world of Modern ceramics.  

     With Guido, his pottery needs no narration. The images alone set his work apart from the masses and tell the story of a mid-century nonconformist that defies not only his time but ours as well. His sense of color and lines, proportion and fluidity, abstract-ism, cubism, sculpture and playfulness never tires of being looked at. The outward effect is simple only in the way it makes you feel.  The color pallets of the glazes he so aptly utilizes were non existent in the middle of the 20th century.  He created these to suit a modern movement that was started in his head alone. He perfected the application as well. Sharp geometrical lines and form, crackle, lava glaze and multi-layer glaze applications in the most striking hues. His finishes can be stunningly crisp or perfectly soft and muddled for an added dreamy effect.

     There is no question when looking at a Guido Gambone that it is handmade and free-formed. That is part of the charm.  He exhibits a contemporary earthiness that could have been lost in the drab violets, maroons and the cobalt's of its time and yet comes to life with color, refinement, imagination and skill.

Guido Gambone

                                   

Father Anthony Art Pottery

Father Anthony

      You should surround yourself with the things you love, unfortunately some of my loves are way too expensive. Maybe that is a good thing, to get everything you want all the time leaves no space for desire and then passion.   I am a stay at-home-mom, a dying breed in my circles, and with one income supporting five you tend to educate your hobbies rather than invest in.  This long education of Art, specifically pottery has afforded me a knowledge of an artists skill and talent, and every once and awhile I discover a gem that in it's obscurity is affordable.  Introducing Father Anthony. 

      Father Anthony is a Trappist monk who lives in the pristine hills of Napa Valley, California at the Abbey of New Clairvaux Monastary.  He was born in Philadelphia in 1935 and studied Business and Engineering at Drexel University where he received a B.S. degree in Commerce in 1957.  In 1963 he entered the Dominican Order and received a degree in Philosophy and an advanced degree in Theology from Saint Albert’s in Oakland. Father Anthony was ordained a priest in 1969 and entered the Abbey of New Clairvaux in 1972 where he has remained ever since. Here at the Abbey is where he found his love and talent for pottery. 

      I came across one his pieces at a thrift store and immediately noticed the fluidity and lightness of his work.  The glaze was outstanding, even, carefully fired, with a color that evokes ones imagination.  It's a simple vase made with complicated techniques, finishes, and the spirit of an artist who long ago was comfortable with his work.  

     His works are still for sale at the monasteries gift shop for modest prices and I wouldn't wait. I have a feeling with time he will be recognized as one this centuries art pottery elites. 

Japanese Imari Ceramic

   Japanese Imari Ceramic 万里焼 Imari-yaki?) defined as* a type of Arita ware (田焼 Arita-yaki?) traditionally made in the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe extensively from the port of Imari, Saga, between the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century. It is characterized by vivid green, blue, purple, yellow and red colors in bold designs of landscapes and nature. Early pieces were blue and white.
      I found this 20th century charger at a thrift store two nights ago.  I tend to stay away from newer Asian pottery but I thought the size (14 1/4 in.) and hand painted details of this charger made for an exception.  The markings on the back, although new and stamped, looked interesting as well.  This is the first piece of Japanese pottery I have ever purchased and admittedly I was out of my depth.  Deciphering a mark is like well, trying to read Chinese! Who made this piece? Where was it made? Is it special? As it turned turns out yes and no.  Logging 40 min. of research time on the internet I was able to determine that part of the seal mark indicates that is was 'carefully made' and possibly the word Toki??? In addition, the sticker also reveals that is was a 'specially made' piece.  But alas, and unfortunately, while it seems to be "specially made" and it is probable there is the name of the artist somewhere in there, it just doesn't seem to be worth that much.  I found several lesser examples in size and detail that brought in on average...wait for it $10-25 dollars. On a good day, I figure, the actual sale value (ASV) of my find is $40-50 dollars.  Sadly in most cases the ASV does not represent the actually value.  The porcelain is fine, the colors are rich with veins of brilliant contrast (see the green under the tree branch), and the time it would have taken to finish this piece, even by a seasoned artist, is more time that most people take doing anything these days. So while it is a piece of art to me it seems rather under valued and over saturated. Find rating: 1 out of 5 stars. ⭐️

*definition courtesy of Wikipedia

Lucie Rie

Lucie Rie

   


      I hadn't thought a great deal about Lucie Rie lately, but when deciding which artists work I wanted to lead with it was an easy choice. I can't say when she became my favorite, it just happened. Like the time I realized all my favorite desserts were my favorite according their proportionate similarity to chocolate pudding.
     Beauty cannot be masked by art. Art in its truest form it shines through as an extension of self. Unmarred by overthinking and lack of skill her art reflects a grace that we are lucky to behold. Her pieces are modern in the way that their presence is imminent and yet will never go out of style. At first, there is something that draws you in about the form. Is it slightly seemingly to narrow there? Maybe a bit long here? The balance, is it proportionate? Awe, but that is just an illusion. Within moments you see, wait not see, but feel, you feel its balance and harmony. The form is so strong and yet the grace and thinness of the clay belongs to femininity at its truest.  Her glaze choices are soft and pure, but never shy. When you see a beautiful stone in nature it never appears man-made. Simplicity is her greatest trick.  It dares to be emulated, but unless your Lucie Rie it was not meant to be. She is an American Master of the earliest form of art.

           

The Art of Pottery

I love pottery. It tells me a story uniquely attached to someone and some time in history. It's accessible, colorful, masterful, graceful, beautiful , abandoned, functional, angry, conformed and free. It conveys raw emotion and cultural contrast. It's contradicts itself time and time again while leaving no room for error. A piece is directly formed by the hands of an artist. Can you feel the shape of their fingers and subtleties in their movements?  A piece cannot be re-worked or painted over.  When fired it is burned upon history forever.  Studying each unique piece reveals a place in our past. The social climate and style, the mind of a master of form, the soil content and whimsies of a people. Anthropology through art. Art is vital and necessary and none as important as pottery and the people that make it. From the form and function of the ancient Jomon and Egyptians to the modern American and European risk takers.  To the Native American story tellers and the time consuming intricacies and attention to detail of Asian glaze and brushwork. All of this, but mostly I love discovering a piece of lost history that no one can see.  By way of knowledge, it reveals itself to me and the world. I am saving it from obscurity and it returns the favor.