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Lot Essay
Ceramics by Paul Sérusier are extremely rare. This example, Bretonnes, is made of moulded plaster as is suggested by the two vertical seams along the vase, and was painted by the artist. It is not glazed, which gives it a matt and watercolour-like surface. This technique is unusual and different from the other ceramics in this collection, which are mostly glazed earthenware or porcelain.
In the catalogue of the exhibition held in Marseilles in 2000, De la couleur et du feu, Claire Frèches-Thory dates this vase to circa 1895. In her opinion, Bretonnes marks the transition between the Ecole de Pont-Aven and the Nabis movement. Sérusier, who worked closely with Gauguin in Pont-Aven, was also the oldest member of the Nabis group and his painting Talisman, 1888 (Guicheteau no. 2; Musée d'Orsay, Paris) became the inspirational work of the group. In Bretonnes, one can discern typical Pont-Aven elements, such as the Breton subject and the cloisonism treatment, recalling Sérusier's Les Laveuses à la Laïta, 1892 (fig. 1; Guicheteau, no. 55; Musée d'Orsay, Paris). The shape, however, is kept simple, almost utilitarian, leaving the primacy to the subject, unlike Gauguin's sculptural ceramics.
(Fig. 1) Paul Sérusier, Les Laveuses à la Laïta, 1892, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
In the catalogue of the exhibition held in Marseilles in 2000, De la couleur et du feu, Claire Frèches-Thory dates this vase to circa 1895. In her opinion, Bretonnes marks the transition between the Ecole de Pont-Aven and the Nabis movement. Sérusier, who worked closely with Gauguin in Pont-Aven, was also the oldest member of the Nabis group and his painting Talisman, 1888 (Guicheteau no. 2; Musée d'Orsay, Paris) became the inspirational work of the group. In Bretonnes, one can discern typical Pont-Aven elements, such as the Breton subject and the cloisonism treatment, recalling Sérusier's Les Laveuses à la Laïta, 1892 (fig. 1; Guicheteau, no. 55; Musée d'Orsay, Paris). The shape, however, is kept simple, almost utilitarian, leaving the primacy to the subject, unlike Gauguin's sculptural ceramics.
(Fig. 1) Paul Sérusier, Les Laveuses à la Laïta, 1892, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.