Young Girl From Pont-l'abbé By René Quillivic - Brittany

HB factory in Quimper, polychrome earthenware, circa 1930. Height: 50 cm.

René Quillivic (1879-1969). Sculptor, painter, ceramist and engraver, this man has more than one string to his bow. Quillivic was born in Plouhinec, near the bay of Audierne, into a family of fishermen. After the death of his brother at sea, he gave up fishing and became a marine carpenter, which allowed him to learn carpentry and wood sculpture. The "tour of France" that he undertook with "the companions of duty" took him through the construction site of the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris where he enrolled in the evening course at the School of Decorative Arts. In 1903, he then entered the studio of sculptor Antonin Mercié at the School of Fine Arts. His first works exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1905 then at the Salon des Indépendants in 1907 testify to his attachment to Brittany and his desire to treat subjects inspired by everyday life. From 1919, he was entrusted with the creation of war memorials. In 1920, he became artistic director at the HB earthenware factory in Quimper, where he sought to renew the decorations by drawing on the vocabulary of embroidery. His style is marked by the desire to give a modern image of Brittany. In this sense, he seeks to combine the precision of decorative motifs with the stylization of shapes, sometimes almost geometric.