Anthropomorphic Ceramic Vase by Gilbert Valentin in Vallauris

This original and poetic ‘Visage’ vase, covered with a beautiful slightly grainy matte black enamel and white enamel interior (H. 20 cm), signed Gilbert Valentin ‘Les Archanges, Vallauris’, is a rare creation from the early 1960s.
Gilbert Valentin (1928–2000) was born in Nancy. His father, an artistic ironworker, was responsible for maintaining the Jean Lamour railings on Place Stanislas and was a member of the Nancy School. From a very young age, Gilbert Valentin knew the creators of that era: architects, painters, sculptors, glassmakers and ceramists. It was therefore only natural that he learned the techniques of working with iron and wood. It was in 1946 in Dieulefit that Gilbert Valentin discovered ceramics and learned the most primitive techniques of this art. This initial experience was soon followed by professional training at the École Nationale de Vierzon in the ceramics department, then by a job at the Lunéville-Saint-Clément pottery factory as a ceramics engineer. It was therefore with a high level of mastery of ceramics techniques, particularly glazes, that the artist embarked on his career as a ceramist. The real start came in 1950, when the artist decided to move to Vallauris, a major centre for ceramics, for its light. With the help of his wife Lilette, with whom he had five children, he founded Les Archanges, where he welcomed many artists, painters, sculptors, musicians and writers, including Pablo Picasso, Jacques Prévert, Georges Braque and Jean Cocteau, who in 1960 became president of the Club des Archanges. Gilbert Valentin's signature often referred to the name of the Archanges workshop. It quickly took on multiple roles, including ceramics, pottery, painting, sculpture, metalwork, weaving and lithography.
To better understand Gilbert Valentin's ceramic work, we must briefly review his activity within the general evolution of Vallaurian ceramics.
Culinary ceramics, long the main activity in Vallauris, is losing ground to a rapidly expanding artistic production driven by many young artists including André Baud, Suzanne Ramié, Jean Derval, Roger Capron, Robert Picault, Gilbert Portanié, Francine Delpierre, Albert Diato and, of course, Picasso. Like all these ceramists, Gilbert Valentin actively participated in the renewal of forms and decorations. Using red clay, sometimes chamotte, purchased from L'Union, the main clay factory in Vallauris, and glazes from the Hospied factory in Golfe-Juan, the artist explored different techniques: turned, modelled and cast pieces. With a predilection for sturdy pieces, Gilbert Valentin renewed certain forms: jugs without handles that are held by the neck, as well as explorations of zoomorphic forms in small and medium-sized pieces. One of the most recognisable features of this period is the abstract decoration on a black or grey granulated background, onto which splashes of pure colour (red, yellow, orange, turquoise blue and white) are projected. Alongside these are large, very sober ceramic panels and large engraved or decorated dishes. Sold in the artist's own studio, these ceramics were a great success.In 1953, Gilbert Valentin drove Picasso around in his horned car, photographed by André Villers, during a popular festival organised in Picasso's honour in Vallauris. The photos were published in André Villers' book entitled Picasso à Vallauris. In 1961, Gilbert Valentin produced a series of sundials for the village of Coaraze based on designs by Jean Cocteau, Henri Goetz and Ponce de Léon. In 1962, Valentin developed a technical patent for ‘clay prints’ with a view to working with Jean Cocteau. Unfortunately, Cocteau's death in 1963 put an end to the project and to the great friendship between the two artists. From 1963 onwards, and especially in the 1970s, the artist became interested in elements of the mechanical world with his ‘Mécaportraits’, “Mécasphères” and ‘Mécasculptures’.
Three of the most important of these Mecasculptures were exhibited at the Salon de Mai, on the terraces of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and at the Menton Biennale. Valentin also collaborated on decorative and architectural projects. In 1978, he created two large polychrome ‘Mécasculptures’ for the C.E.S Picasso in Vallauris. The artist then turned his attention to ceramics, increasingly drawing on his work as a painter to depict flowers, fruit, birds and delicate faces, often imbued with symbolic concepts.