Sold at Tajan Auction House in Paris
on November 20, 2024
Valentine Schlegel was born in 1925, in the Mediterranean port of Sète. As a teenager, her family let her indulge in manual and sporting activities, which were not really considered part of a young girl’s education at the time. It was from her father, an upholsterer, that Valentine learned to love manual work and the tools that made it possible. During the war, she met Agnès Varda, who had come to live in Sète with her family. They never left each other’s side. She studied drawing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier, before moving to Paris in 1945. It was during this period, working alongside Frédérique Bourguet, that she concentrated on creating original ceramics. She also worked with one of her sisters, Andrée Vilar, married to Jean Vilar, founder of the Avignon Festival.
From 1955 onwards, she designed a series of grog-mounted earthenware vases glazed in muted tones (gray, blue-black, white, green-brown). The shapes are organic, based on fullness and emptiness. The surface of the material seems to be chiselled. In her vases, which recall the forms of nature (germ, root, bulb, tuber, etc.), she deals in her own way with contemporary trends in organic sculpture and design, her work always situated between the useful and the artistic.
We present a monumental vase-sculpture from a private collection, documented thanks to Agnès Varda’s photos from an exhibition at Galerie la Demeure in January 1957. The vase is shown on a windowsill, embellished with branches, just as Valentine Schlegel liked to show his pieces: with a purpose! “I thought it was up to sculptors to invent pots, and I asked myself: how would a sculptor make a pot? A pot is meant to hold flowers. Without flowers, it’s nothing. To have a life of its own, it must also be a sculpture”, she said.
The second work from this collection is a pitcher created in collaboration with her sister Andrée Vilar. Indeed, at the start of her career as a ceramist, Valentine turned the pieces and Andrée painted them. This jug is the fruit of their collaboration and bears both their signatures. These two pieces, which have remained in the same family since their acquisition, were previously unknown on the market and have now been re-revealed by Maison Tajan.
We also present a second vase, exhibited in January 1957 at Galerie La Demeure, also featured in an Agnés Varda photograph from another private collection in Paris. The 1957 photo shows the vase on a shelf, with the artist standing in front of it. This lightly chiaroscuro shot shows the vase lined with plant stems. The contact sheet, kept at the Institut pour la Photographie in Lille, enabled us to retrace the history of this work. Without Agnès’ photos, the history of these ceramics would not have been possible.
VALENTINE SCHLEGEL (1925-2021)
A vase in coil-mounted clay and chamotte earthenware, light grey enamel.
Three removable vases in lead forming flowers containers. Signed.
(Small chips and cracks).
18 3/4 x 16 7/8 x 15 in
Provenance: Private collection, Sète
Estimates: 30 000 / 40 000 €
Result: 80 032 € (buyer’s premium included)
VALENTINE SCHLEGEL (1925-2021) & ANDRÉE VILAR (1916-2009)
An “oiseaux” jug in red clay and black engobe. Signed.
(One small chip to the beak)
H. 9 in. – W. 5 7/8 in
Provenance: Private collection, Sète
Estimates: 4 000 / 5 000 €
Result: 8 528 € (buyer’s premium included)
VALENTINE SCHLEGEL (1925-2021)
A vase in coil-mounted chamotte clay and enamel. Signed.
H. 13 in. – W. 6 3/4 in.
Provenance: Private collection, Paris
Estimates: 8 000 / 12 000 €
Result: 21 648 € (buyer’s premium included)
INFORMATION
Design & 20th century Decorative Arts auction
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
CONTACTS
Marie-Cécile Michel – Director of the Dsign & 20th century Decorative Arts department
+33 1 53 30 30 58 – [email protected]
Ariane de Miramon – Communication Director
+33 1 53 30 30 68 – [email protected]