Mr. Jean Lurçat - Sant Vicens - The Bird – 1950 -

Ceramic plate created in Sant-Vicens in Perpignan from 1950 to 1960 representing an enameled decoration of the flight of a black bird on a brown background and a white border, pigmented with black. By Mr. Jean Lurçat (1892-1966), Signed on the back "Dessin J. Lurçat Sant-Vicens VC 6" In the first period he worked with Miro then Gomila, his workshop manager. In 1951, Jean Lurçat visited Firmin Bauby, and entrusted him with his ceramic creations. He stayed twice a year in Sant Vicens, until his death in 1966. He created drawings, shapes, imagined colors, until submitting them to Gumersind Gomila, workshop manager. Diameter: 25 cm weight: 0.576 Kgrs. In very good used and original condition. In excellent condition, no cracks, scratches or breakage. In good used and original condition. In excellent condition, no cracks, scratches or breakage. The Photos are an integral part of the description. Biography of the Sant-Vicens factory At the end of the 1930s, Firmin Bauby, a decorator, acquired a wine-growing farmhouse on the outskirts of Perpignan, to create a ceramics center there. He tamed the earth with Gustave Violet, in his early youth, in Prades. The project was quickly thwarted by events, but managed to see the light of day thanks to the sponsorship of Aristide Maillol, Raoul Dufy, and Albert Bausil. The first kiln was operational on January 3, 1943. Louis Antico was the workshop manager. The first potteries of Sant Vicens perpetuated the Catalan tradition, until 1944, when Firmin Bauby called on sculptors, such as Miquel Paredes, to celebrate the Liberation. Lucien Goron then came from the Sèvres factories to teach the most advanced ceramic techniques to the workshop workers. From 1948, new creators settled there. Most of them worked for the workshop, and worked on their own creations in their free time. Firmin Bauby then had to set up a place to exhibit these pieces to the public, the cellar of the estate, with its oak barrels, was transformed into an exhibition space. Denys Bauby, Firmin's brother, took over the administrative and commercial management of Sant Vicens. At the same time, Firmin was keen to perpetuate a family tradition: that of the nativity scene (pessebre, in Catalan). He asked the artists of the workshop to participate, which they did with enthusiasm. Since then, the pessebre of Sant Vicens has always been a moment for the people of Perpignan. In 1951, Jean Lurçat visited Firmin Bauby and entrusted him with his ceramic creations. He stayed twice a year in Sant Vicens until his death in 1966. He created drawings, shapes, imagined colours, and submitted them to Gumersind Gomila, the workshop manager. In the 1940s, Gumersind Gomila joined the Atelier Sant Vicens run by the Bauby brothers to work on ceramics. His exceptional mastery of reds and the finesse of his line aroused the interest of Jean Lurçat, whose friend he quickly became, the exclusive ceramicist, in a word, the collaborator in the etymological sense of the term since Lurçat demanded that Gomila's signature appear on their major joint productions, including the sign for the ORTF house in Strasbourg. Alongside these major works, Gumersind Gomila creates more humble pieces (lamps, dishes, plates, ashtrays) under her signature or that of Jean Lurçat which fully fit into the artisanal vocation of Sant Vicens.