A collector’s guide to Georges Jouve

Over the past two decades, the sinuous black vases of Georges Jouve have become go-to objects for top interior designers seeking to bring a timeless touch to their clients’ spaces. These pieces are now synonymous with the French ceramicist, but the breadth of his output extends much more widely.

Because of the diversity of his objects, from abstract to almost classical in their silhouettes, Jouve’s work was — and continues to be — adapted to a wide range of interiors, and it attracts collectors across a spectrum of tastes. He emerged in a post-war era of innovation and optimism, which saw a synthesis of many arts, particularly architecture, design and decor.

Here. we explore how Jouve discovered his calling, what his most coveted pieces are, and why his market is surging more than ever.

His interest in ceramics began when he was displaced during the Second World War

Born in the Parisian suburb of Fontenay-sous-Bois to parents who were both interior decorators, Jouve studied architecture and art history prior to serving as a soldier in the Second World War. After being captured and detained in a German camp for two years, he managed to escape to Nyons, the home of his parents-in-law, in the south of France. There, he was reunited with his wife Jacqueline, whom he had married in 1936. They settled in the nearby pottery town of Dieulefit.

Looking for a way to earn a living for himself and his growing family, Jouve discovered that he could use the local soil to make clay — a material that sparked his creativity. In a neighbouring village, he found a willing assistant with a kiln in which he could fire his creations. He had to carry the works in a crate on his bicycle over mountainous terrain to get to and from the kiln, and many cracked along the way, but he was undeterred.

Jouve moved to Paris with his wife and three children in the mid-1940s, where he ran a successful atelier and his work was widely exhibited. The family returned to the south in 1954 to settle in Aix-en-Provence.

Though black became his signature, he used a broad palette of colours

Jouve had already perfected his distinctive satin-finish black glaze by the late 1940s. Black seems to have become his signature colour because it allowed him to express the sculptural aspects of the ceramic forms he created.

He did, however, have a very broad approach to colour, and is known for his use of white, as well as particular shades of yellow, orange, green, red and blue. Jouve’s work is also noteworthy for featuring both fired glaze and enamels over ceramic.

His works are noted for their diversity of form and subject matter

Perhaps what makes Jouve a perennial favourite is the contradictory nature of his work. As well as pieces that embody the simplicity and abstraction of shapes and colours in space, there are figurative works that relate very directly to animal and plant forms. Jouve’s figurative pieces — such as his depiction of the god Bacchus or mermaid-like beings — range from the classically proportioned to those with an abstract, even Cubist, sensibility. His animal forms include birds (notably the rooster), sharks and bulls.

His utilitarian works range from vases, platters, bowls and lidded boxes to lamp bases, wall lights and tables. Whatever their size, his furnishings always have a sculptural feel.

Collectors of Jouve can choose to create an assemblage of cylinder vases, or they can move beyond that and pursue larger-scale furnishings, or major works of sculpture, whether abstract or figurative.

Above all, he created works as objects of beauty

For Jouve, designing ceramics was less about functionality than beauty, which he saw as vital to life. His works became objects for aesthetic contemplation and enjoyment. So his lamps and tables, though obviously functional, were also aesthetic objects in their own right. Freedom of expression was an important tenet in Jouve’s approach to design and living.

His tiled tables are among his finest achievements

Many designers and decorators have incorporated Jouve’s work into their interiors and architectural installations. Jouve’s ceramic tiles have been formed into textured walls or used as tabletops. He also made sculptural, freeform tabletops that seem to channel the work of Constantin Brancusi: a Jouve coffee table from around 1955, comprised of four white ceramic tiles that form an elongated oval shape, is reminiscent of Brancusi’s 1928 sculpture Bird in Space.

In May 2022, Christie’s achieved a new record for Jouve when his glazed ceramic and oak table from 1950 sold for €1,062,000, more than doubling its low estimate. The work was made in collaboration with designer and artist Janette Laverrière, with whom Jouve created some of his most desirable pieces.

He exhibited his work alongside that of other top designers of his time

After the war, Jouve became deeply embedded in Parisian life and its artistic scene. His work was published and exhibited in galleries around the world. The work of Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand would be shown with Jouve’s at major exhibitions and by important dealers such as Steph Simon. For this reason, many people who love French design see Jouve as a key part of their collections, alongside other important figures who were born of the same ethos in the post-war era.

Influential tastemakers have been pairing works by Jouve with the likes of Prouvé and Perriand since the beginning. The 2021 sale of the Daniel Lebard Collection at Christie’s in Paris included very significant examples of Jouve’s works that had long been hidden away. As these works enter the marketplace, they help foster renewed interest in the artist.

His wife Jacqueline helped cement his legacy

After Jouve’s death in 1964, Jacqueline played a crucial role in disseminating her husband’s story and promoting his work. For example, in the early 1990s she sold important works to Catherine and Stéphane de Beyrie, who then brought them to New York, broadening international interest in his work by allowing it to be seen by a whole new group of collectors.

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