Ettore Sottsass at Sèvres, Cité de Céramique

Photo courtesy G. Jonca/Sevres
Cite de la ceramique.

An architect in the workshop, is the title (translated) of the current exhibit in the national porcelain manufacture at Sèvres' museum space. The architect in question is Ettore Sottsas; architect and designer, creator of the Valentine typewriter and the Carlton bookcase. He is also the father of the Memphis group (1981-1988) a group of designers who were at the crux of a style that is called postmodern design. In 1993, Sèvres invited Sottsass to imagine a series of pieces in porcelain. In collaboration, they discovered new forms and formulas for glazes, and produced vases that are now iconic figures of Sottsass' style.

Vase Sybilla, 1994. Photo courtesy G. Jonca/
Sevres Cite de la ceramique.

The china vases are superposed brightly colored shapes and look like totems or the vague outline of a person. The vase "Sybilla" for example, is made of two colored bell shapes separated by a ring of "biscuit" (unglazed porcelain) suggesting the silhouette of an orange skirt and black top held together by a white belt. This particular shade of orange is one of the colors studied by the manufacture for Sottsass' productions. I particularly liked the vases "Diane" and "Lucrèce". The former is in purple, white and red, and the latter in cream and a deep blue (a color that Sèvres is famous for). They both have forms lined with gold leaf that reflects light so brilliantly that they could be mistaken for table lamps.

A second collection of vases were created in 2006 and mix Sèvres porcelain with glass works from CIRVA a state funded experimental glass manufacture in Marseille. Glass elements are suspended from porcelain bowls with thick strings. The effect is a little disturbing because the roughness of the ropes offsets the nobility of the main materials. The idea of suspending large pieces of glass like windchimes is also unsettling. In a series of glassworks created by the CIRVA between 1999 and 2004 shapes of colored glass are suspended from, around, inside or outside of the vase portion of the glass. The shapes are complex and uneven.

Kachina 10, (2006-2012) CIRVA, Marseille,
ed. Galerie Mourmans, Maastricht.

Sottsass' simple shapes hide a deeper philosophy about the nature of design that he felt presented a "sort of figurative and metaphoric utopia of life". The pieces presented here are indeed architectures as the title of the exhibit suggests, but they are also little realms reproducing the fragility of life and people. In his later pieces with the CIRVA, Ettore Sottsass created many different shapes suggestive of human figures and called them "Kachinas" This, of course, is a reference to the Native American cult in which hundreds of deities are designated as spirits of different natural elements, sun, moon, trees, etc. The reference to the spiritual reminds us that while his art is very amusing, there is also a deeply mystical side to Sottsass' creative process.

Sottsass passed away on December 31, 2007.

The Manufacture nationale de Sèvres descends from a manufacture established in Vincennes by Madame de Pompadour in 1740. This manufacture was specialized in a special ceramic mixture called "porcelaine à pâte tendre" for its soft texture. In 1756 the workshop was transferred to Sèvres. A short time later it fell under control of King Louis XV. Following the discovery of kaolin in Limoges (kaolin or china clay is used to make traditional porcelain "à pâte dure") the royal manufacture began producing a greater variety of products starting in 1770. The manufacture and its collections were moved to their current spot on the banks of the Seine in 1876.

Sèvres - cité de céramique has a collection of mainly ceramics, but also some glass pieces gathered for research purposes and as sources of inspiration in the creation of pieces at the porcelain manufacture. Alexandre Brogniart, who was administrator from 1800-1847 established the museum. The museum building itself is a beautiful piece of classical looking architecture that separates the porcelain workshops, research and store rooms from the Seine. The permanent collections are a beautiful and fascinating tour of the history of porcelain and various techniques.

Ettore Sottsass - un architecte dans l'atelier
Through July 22, 2013

Cité de la Céramique - Sèvres
2 place de la Manufacture
92310 Sèvres

Opening hours:
10am - 5pm everyday except Tuesday.

Museum website

Now at the Galerie Galatee "Paysages Suspendus" engraver Marine Lefebvre dreams of childhood and tree bark

It was a rainy evening about a month ago, when I first stumbled on the Galerie Galatée, a small art gallery in the rue Notre Dame de Nazareth specialized in modern engravings. The evening was festive and simple, lights in the gallery flooded out the streets with their yellow glow and the sweet jazzy notes of O Forte, a four piece group from Toulouse whose music compliments engraver Marine Lefebvre's sweet yet sober compositions.

The engravings are captivating: a superposition of different textures brought to life by the bite of acid on copperplate. The forms are suggestive of many different elements: tree bark or muscle tissue. They melt one into another. Gallery owner, Ghizlaine Jahidi says this "hybridation" attracted her to Marine Lefebvre's artworks immediately. She sees in these engravings an unconscious reference to the Swedish painter Munch, Lefebvre "gives a tragic dimension to beauty." This is especially apparent in the triptych "Palingenèse par les hauteurs" (Palingenesis/Rebirthing from Above). In one of the three engravings that form the triptych, a faceless black form peers around streaks of black and white. Looming over these elements is a pair of feet that seem to be walking out of the painting.


In the series "Marcigny" Lefebvre reflects on her childhood experiences in the little Burgundy village where
her grandparents lived. By mixing motifs from her memories with close-ups of organic materials she creates a space of utopic otherness, that Lefebvre calls "heterotopias" (the term heterotopia was created by Michel Foucault in reference to a space that is outside of the physical world but runs parallel to it such as the places where children hide to play in the backyard, or in their parents' bed). For me these engravings resemble a slice of the artist's imagination cut from her mind and displayed the way dynamited rock on mountain roads allow passersby to discover millions of years of geological history. A series of photographs on the artist's website help to understand the ecological influence on these engravings (photographie Espaces Vides).

Marine Lefebvre poses in front of the series "Marcigny"
at the Galerie Galatée

Lefebvre is currently training at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. She began her studies in set design, but recently discovered a preference for the autonomy and the sensation of engraving. Over the past year she has spent time in a  Ireland at a workshop where she could exchange with engravers from all over the world. Back in Paris she started printing in René Tazé's workshop. Tazé is one of the top printers in the city, and his long career makes him an excellent model for Lefebvre.

Marine Lefebvre's work seems to be made for a gallery like Galatee. Owner Ghizlaine Jahidi opened her doors a little over a year ago in a part of the city where the art scene is beginning to blossom. Jahidi has always been drawn to engravings, a medium that she finds brings the spectator into an intimate "proximity to the artist." Since opening she has been dealing with contemporary engravings: some major names such as Max Klinger and Eric Desmazières. Lefebvre's shadow crossed her threshold at a moment when she had been on the lookout for new talent.

The exhibit "Paysages Suspendus" (Suspended Landscapes) is scheduled at the Galerie Galatée through mid-May. These engravings have an enchanting melancholy that is lovely to observe (and the prices are quite reasonable).



Address:
31 rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth, Paris 9e
Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday : 1pm-7pm
Métro:
Temple ou République
Email

Link to Marine Lefebvre's website

Marie Laurencin at the Musee Marmottan Monet

Soft pinks and greys, sweet faces and sad black eyes, this Spring in the Jardins de Ranelagh, the Musee Marmottan Monet is exhibiting a selection of paintings by Marie Laurencin.

The name Marie Laurencin rings a bell in the minds of both 20th century literature and art enthusiasts without necessarily evoking her own career as a painter. In the 1920s and 30s, Marie's paintings were acclaimed throughout Paris, but history books have often preferred to speak of her relationships with other artists: her long love affair with Guillaume Apollinaire, her interactions with American writers such as Gertrude Stein and her Sappho inspired trysts in various women's salons throughout Paris.

This season, Parisians have the opportunity to take a look at Laurencin's artistic career as the Musee Marmottan-Monet exhibits a large selection of her paintings, mainly on loan from the Marie Laurencin Museum of Tokyo (the only known museum dedicated to the artist's work). The exhibit allows us to discover her sensitive and original style, and we come to understand how this very original artist fits right in to the art of her time creating her own style while receiving influence from cubists Braque and Picasso, as well as the from the painter Le Douanier Rousseau.

My favorite work in the exhibit is a watercolor of a woman holding a basket of fruit on her head. One black, almond-shaped eye draws you in to a whirlpool of hand, basket, black braid and neck. Each element of the woman's body is at once separated and idealized and then combined by the composition's movement. It has a sensual and calculated beauty that is irresistible.The drawing is dated between 1908 and 1910, period when Marie Laurencin was in contact with Braque, Picasso, Apollinaire, and studying her own manner of cubic perspective, her signature style.

Marie Laurencin, Les deux espagnoles, 1915.
Copyright Adagp, 2012

During the first world war, Marie lived in exile in Madrid, having married a German baron just before the war broke out. Although the situation was difficult and lonely, she continued to paint and her paintings adopted elements of the surrounding culture, like the folding fan and lace mantilla in the painting, Les deux espagnoles. These Spanish women are transported into Laurencin's world of child-like reverie, with a note of melancholy. The choice of colors is her recurrent theme of grey tones and pastel pink with a bit of blue, green or red. The long ovals that form the women's faces and their long, thin, spidery fingers are specific to her work.

Marie Laurencin, La vie au chateau, 1925. Copyright Adagp, 2012.

La vie au chateau is a romp in a fairy tale park, with a series of portraits of women in different attitudes, painted in 1925. I believe it was exhibited in the 1925 Paris World's Fair that set French interior design on the international scene.

Back in Paris after the Armistice, Marie Laurencin received an increasing amount of recognition and entered the high point of her career. These years lead her to artistic maturity. By 1925 she was acclaimed throughout the city, and often commissioned to paint the portraits of important figures of Paris (mostly women): Coco Chanel and the baroness Gourgaud for example. She also dabbled in illustrations, and set designs (for Cocteau and the Ballets Russes).

The exhibit in the Musee Marmottan Monet is a rare opportunity to see such an important quantity of Marie Laurencin's paintings and sketches outside of Tokyo. The exhibit catalogue is also excellent. Daniel Marchesseau (ex-director of the Musee de la Vie Romantique) recounts the story of Marie Laurencin's art in French accompanied by a very good translation into English. It's a pleasure to read, both intellectually stimulating and easily accessible to someone who has no background knowledge in the subject. A great book to pick up on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

-CSL

Marie Laurencin 1883-1956
through June 30, 2013

Musee Marmottan Monet
2 rue Louis Boilly
75016 Paris

Opening hours:
Tuesday - Sunday: 10am - 6pm
Open Thursdays until 8pm

Museum website link