Sulking Baby In Sandstone By Berthe Savigny - Manufacture Hb Quimper - Brittany

Manufacture HB Quimper in polychrome sandstone, circa 1930. Height 13 cm.

Berthe Savigny (1882-1958) was born in Quimper. His father is a wine and spirits merchant but also an enlightened amateur painter. He is a friend of Gauguin, Appolinaire and Max Jacob. It is therefore in this artistic universe that Berthe Savigny grew up. Moreover, his brothers and sisters have all embraced artistic careers, as have his nephews. The best known being undoubtedly Pierre De Belay, his younger brother. Suffering from partial deafness due to an accident, the practice of art allows Berthe to break her isolation. It was the success of these famous babies that in 1926 brought him into contact with the HB Manufacture. In 1939 the Manufacture tried to put it under contract, without ever succeeding due to lack of agreement on the latter. This does not prevent the Manufacture from mass-producing different models, the artist retaining ownership of his works. Berthe Savigny, like her younger brother, are purely autodidacts. She did not confine herself only to modeling, she painted a lot, even if this side of her is less known. She had a rich artistic life, working in collaboration with her painter and poet friend Émile Bernard (a figure of the Pont-Aven school). Although many works represent children, she does not neglect landscapes, still lifes and scenes of daily life. His style is imbued with great tenderness and sensitivity. After her death in 1958, her nephew Paul Alexandre Savigny Trognée continued to perpetuate his aunt's work in her Parisian workshop. Since 2001, the Breton art earthenware factory has published, in collaboration with the family, four models by the artist.