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PRIMAVERA / CLAUDE LEVY (attribution). Art Deco Dove. Crackled White Earthenware

$5,092.11
£3,790.04
€4,250
CA$6,974.92
A$7,757.63
CHF 4,050.79
MX$94,402.12
NOK 51,734.82
SEK 48,518.14
DKK 32,353.77
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About the Item

PRIMAVERA (1926) - Claude Levy (attribution) / Edouard Chassaing sculptor. Large pigeon posed in profile in crackled white earthenware slightly cracked. Factory of Sainte-Radegonde. Perfect condition despite a tiny chip on the terrace. Documentation: exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, 1926; Renaissance of French Arts, 1928. Primavera, Documentation: . Exhibition Salon d'Automne, 1926 (Guillemard stand); . Renaissance des Arts français, Nov. 1928; Emblem of the 3rd PFADM (Small Modern Decorative Arts Fair of Le Printemps), 1929. .Photo: bronze edition by Chassaing PRIMAVERA L'ATELIER D'ART DU PRINTEMPS In September 1912, the department store Le Printemps created a structure for the production of furniture and modern art objects, called Atelier Primavera. This unprecedented initiative, taken by René Guilleré, founder of the Société des Artistes décorateurs and Pierre Laguionie, young manager of Le Printemps, who proposes to provide the Parisian store with a structure for the production of furniture and modern works of art, constitutes a crucial moment in the evolution of design in the 20th century. The decoration and all its components, furniture, rugs, lighting, upholstery, table services, and above all, art glassware and ceramic trinkets, staged with pomp during the Decorative Arts Exhibition of 1925, thus making innovation and modernity in the field of decorative arts accessible to all through a powerful commercial tool. The updating of forms under the influence of cubism will be implemented there by talented creators such as Claude Lévy and Madeleine Sougez, lovers of contemporary themes such as sports, jazz, the Ballets Russes and, thanks to the modernist spirit of Louis Sognot and the timely intervention of Jacques Viénot, founder of industrial aesthetics, the way could open towards the democratization of furniture consumption. Very affected by the crisis of the 1930s and devastated by the war, Primavera will owe an unexpected rebirth to its director, Colette Gueden, who joined the Atelier in 1927 at the age of twenty-two, who, with courage, intelligence and flair will make it, during the 50s and 60s, thanks to its animations full of inventiveness and fantasy, one of the trendiest places in the capital, where one last time creation will succeed in asserting its primacy over commerce. . Bibliography/ Primavera, l’Atelier d’Art du Printemps 1912-1972, Alain-René Hardy, Gerard Tatin, Faton / Vingtième Plus Edition, 2014 LES ARTISTE DE PRIMAVERA : CLAUDE LEVY (1895-1942) Trained at the School of Decorative Arts, was passionate about her profession, which she enriched with her insatiable curiosity and her appetite for innovation: "Only one thing interests me: the unknown, and I have only one joy: to work. I bring in my work as much novelty as possible." she will declare on the occasion of her Blumenthal prize. After her arrival at Primavera, she had to apply her know-how, both to the creation of fabrics, lacquered patterns on furniture, and to small objects made in Sainte Radegonde, ashtrays, plates, tobacco jars and vases. earthenware with painted figured decoration (The Golden Age, Joyeuse Ronde, Le Paradis Terrestre), often black on a white background, but also polychrome, and sold for several years from the Salon d'Automne of 1921. Then it was entrusted with the responsibility of rapidly supplying an offer of earthenware subjects with a cracked glaze. Her enthusiasm for the total spectacle of the Ballets Russes (music, dance, comedy, scenery) which she frequented assiduously made her want to make it her theme for the creation of crackle figurines. Designed in 1922, they were submitted from the fall and throughout 1923 to the appreciation of the refined public of the Decorative Arts Salons. Inspired by different ballets such as Carnaval, Parade, Pulcinella or La boutique fantasque, its seductive crackles, often enhanced with black lines (Woman in a good mood) or discreet colors, apple green and platinum (Pulcinella), even with a frank polychromy (Chinese Conjurer of Parade), also achieved success in the Printemps catalogs which lasted for several years, practically until the dissolution of Diaghilev's company. This could only encourage C. Lévy to persist in the creation of these modern trinkets and, in addition to subjects such as musicians (Banjo player, Guitarist of the S.A.D. of 1925), clowns, dancers, she later undertook to give life to a whole menagerie (elephant, group of three bears, Grand Duke, charging bull, wild boar, many deer) profusely exhibited at the Grand Palais in 1925, – which earned it a place in the list of awards at the Exhibition with a gold medal, then shown again the following year at the Salon des Décorateurs. Claude Lévy subsequently became the crackle specialist at the Atelier, drawing dozens and dozens of models that she created, with the help of Edouard Chassaing, in series, making her the most prolific crackle pattern maker in his time, far ahead of the Adnet brothers and Charles Lemanceau. The house factory of Sainte Radegonde owes him even more, to whom it provides illustrations on the theme of work in the fields, among other things, to decorate enamelled sandstone vases, such as, for example, the flat gourd with harvesters and the large vase with hunters. Like many of her colleagues, she also sent some sketches to Paule Petitjean who brought them to life in the ground. Her animal inspiration will also benefit the potters of Soufflenheim, for whom she sketched many "clown" animals made of glazed clay. Towards the end of his collaboration with Primavera, Claude Lévy, perhaps following a trip there, also proposed original shapes and decorations to the Céramique d'art de Bordeaux; it is plausible that most of the polylobed vases covered with flamed green enamel produced by this workshop are his invention. She also experimented a lot with mixtures of blue, white and gold enamels, arranged in spirals, in parallel lines or informal decorations of seedlings of pellets, lattices or parallel lines of white and black enamel applied on raw clay with a patina but she found it difficult to take the step of pure geometry. Promoted to workshop manager to replace Madeleine Sougez in 1928, the year in which she was honored with the enviable Blumenthal Prize, Claude Lévy also left Printemps at the end of the following year, not without having tried her hand at her ultimate appearance within the Atelier to paintings on glass and mirror produced, in all likelihood, in unique pieces (Salon d'Automne 1928). From now on, she will stop creating for ceramics, which constitutes the essential of her work as a model maker, – a brilliant and abundant work, giving herself fully to her project of establishing herself as an independent decorator, in the movement of the U.A.M. But, she will end up favoring painting more and more, to which she devoted herself entirely during the last years of her too short life. LES ARTISTE DE PRIMAVERA : EDOUARD CHASSAING (1895-1974) A highly appreciated sculptor, exhibiting his works at numerous Salons on a personal basis, but also sometimes under the aegis of Primavera (notably at the Salons d'Automne of 1922, 23 and 24), widely quoted by Guilleré, Edouard Chassaing remained independent as the evidence of the bas-reliefs reproduced by Henri Rapin (Modern decorative sculpture, Ch. Moreau, 1st series, v. 1924, pl. 6) and his various participations in the 1925 Exhibition (Luneville pottery, monumental bas-reliefs for the Christofle pavilion). He also donated a few models of crackles to La Maîtrise, which competed with Galeries Lafayette, after ending his collaboration with Primavera (end of 1926). He went into exile in the United States in 1927, in Chicago where he pursued his career as a sculptor and became councilor of the municipality for urban sculpture and professor at the Art Institute. We have been dealing in art, antiques, lighting, and vintage posters for more than 50 years. Upon request, we are very happy to provide you with Certificate of Authenticity.
  • Attributed to:
    Atelier Primavera au Printemps (Artist)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 16.15 in (41 cm)Width: 5.91 in (15 cm)Depth: 11.82 in (30 cm)
  • Style:
    Art Deco (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1926
  • Condition:
    Minor losses.
  • Seller Location:
    SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU7066231663122

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