2.21.2011

the prouvé of ceramics: georges jouve

Who the fuck is Georges Jouve?
Well, according to the French,
he is a ceramic genius.
I wouldn't go as far as genius,
but he is quite good.
What he lacks in talent, he gains
in post mortem marketing genius,
something the French 20th Century dealers are
(insert G word here) in.
Think about it: 95% of Jean Prouvé's output was
institutional, yet he achieves prices of one-off
masterpieces by greater designers.
I am a huge fan of Prouvé,
but feel his price structure is not inline with his talent.
Same goes for Jouve in my book,
he's a solid mid-century talent,
with a million dollars worth of PR behind him.
Can you imagine if 
Heath Ceramics 
brought tens of thousands of dollars for a single piece?
If a Martz lamp was worth $75,000?
Well, they could be. 
All you have to do is collude with your dealer friends 
and corner the market, leak out pieces slowly at
auction and bid them up, do a couple of shows,
print a hard-to-find catalog
(where all these photos came from),
make sure to build a celebrity 
and Russian oligarch fanbase,
and well, 
there you go.
Listen, don't get me wrong,
Jouvé is way sexier than Heath and Martz
put together
(or is it?)
but you catch my drift....
Enough of my dealer rants.
Let's look at some 
Georges Jouve!

"Altelier des Marronniers"
1962

Georges Jouve getting his weed on.
Dig the pipe Geoerges.

Love this.
Makes me want to give up dealing,
buy some cute kids, and start smoking a pipe.
I already have the haircut and the glasses.

Sexy

Sexier

I also LOVE his tile work.

Great.

Georges was quite prolific....

You know,
American dealers 
almost brought Architectural Ceramics
into the same league.
But then some dumbass 
comes along and starts reproducing
all the designs and fucks it all up.
That says a lot about the way Americans think
vs the way the French think....

Me like!

This reminds me of the Jouve pieces in
This one is better.
I love that film....

His simple pieces are the best.
I'm not showing you all the other figural
stuff.
Not that into it.

Jouve
Heath
Jouve
Heath

These are great.

This photo looks familiar....

I'll take this please.

And one of these please.

Exposition George Jouve
Paris
2005

Ibid

A Jouve collector's home in France.

Dig this stove!

Still life in the same collector's home.

Another collector's pad.

New York City Collector's Apartment

What is that chair?

AH! 
The the gangs all here!

We all know who decorated this place....

Exposition George Jouve, Charlotte Perriand and
Thomas Grünfeld
Paris
2002

7 comments:

  1. nice post even better opinions

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  2. p. that load of great pics leaves me just breathless...
    thank you.

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  3. These are so gorgeous. I've never seen this stuff before!

    Speaking of Tati, did you see The Illusionist (that came out recently)? Based on his original screenplay? Lovely...

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  4. I haven't seen it, but will make sure to check it out.... Just watched the trailer, looks great! Thanks for the tip.

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  5. Theyre starting to reproduce Grea Magnusson Grossman's suff now. She was starting to become something of a Swedish Prouve/Kjaerholm.

    So who's your favourite potenial post-mortem design superstar?

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  6. Hi there
    France is speaking to you
    In Tati's film it's Pol Chambost pottery, no Jouve.

    Like the point of view on the bid market!
    Eric

    ReplyDelete