Decorative Arts & Design
Tuesday, June 30, 2:30pm
Our upcoming 20th-Century Design and Decorative Arts sale will showcase a group of eight works by Jacques Innocenti (1926–1958), all from the same provenance, offering a representative overview of the work of this major ceramist from Vallauris, who passed away prematurely at the age of 32.
The highlight of this ensemble is an exceptional pair of tall, slender vases, emblematic of the artist’s most sought-after production. An essential yet still under-recognized figure in postwar ceramics, Jacques Innocenti (1926–1958) was part of the creative effervescence that transformed Vallauris into a center of modern ceramic innovation from the late 1940s onward.
With its long-standing pottery tradition, the town saw its international reputation soar with the arrival of Pablo Picasso in 1948. His installation at Madoura helped turn Vallauris into a true laboratory for modern ceramics. A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Arts décoratifs in 1948, Jacques Innocenti settled in Vallauris as a potter-ceramist in 1949, alongside his wife, whom he had met during his studies.
Jacques INNOCENTI (1926-1958)
Very large cylindrical earthenware vases, decorated with painted and slip designs of a long, slender bird, its head turned to the left on one side, and a sun on the reverse.
One bears a trace of a signature on the underside of the base, while the other is signed “Innocenti Vallauris” on the underside of the base.
Height: 83.5 cm
€5,000 – 7,000 (each)
Produced over the course of less than a decade, Jacques Innocenti’s work is distinguished by an immediately recognizable aesthetic: simple forms, slip glazes in earthy tones, and decoration of great graphic freedom, combining voluptuous female figures, animal motifs, fauna, and stylized architectural elements, set against white or clay-colored backgrounds, often enhanced with black or incised lines. Jacques Innocenti excelled equally in both utilitarian pieces and artistic creations, establishing a distinctive decorative language within the Vallauris production.
Jacques Innocenti’s career, abruptly cut short by his death in 1958, lends his work a particular rarity and aura today. Exhibited during his lifetime at the Nérolium in Vallauris between 1953 and 1957, at the Milan Triennale in 1955, and at the International Ceramics Exhibition in Cannes—where he was awarded a silver medal—he left behind a body of work that is both immediately identifiable and remarkably intense.
This group constitutes a rare testimony to the different creative facets of Jacques Innocenti. Through the diversity of its forms, typologies, and decorative schemes, it aptly illustrates the quintessence of his work: a singular visual language, instantly recognizable, in which formal strength, decorative freedom, and a keen sense of material are expressed with equal mastery. Of exceptional quality, this ensemble offers a panorama that is both rare and highly representative of the artist’s talent.
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DECORATIVE ARTS & DESIGN
Tuesday, June 30, 2:30pm
Tajan, 37 rue des Mathurins, 75008 Paris
Contacts
Marie-Cécile Michel
Director
+33 1 53 30 30 58
[email protected]
Ariane de Miramon
Communication & Marketing
+33 1 53 30 30 68
[email protected]