Pair of 1970s narrow lava glaze vases attributed to Vallauris Pottery
A striking pair of narrow vases of square form in the distinctive orange and brown lava glaze associated with Vallauris Pottery from the late 1960s through the 1970s. Vallauris, like many European potteries, including the big names of West Germany such as Scheurich, produced these flowing glazes with texture and foam like bubbling where the glazes interacted during the firing process.
Now commonly known as 'fat lava' glazes, the Vallauris ones predominantly come in orange, brown and grey/white like this pair, or sometimes green, brown and grey/white. As the bases are small, there are no factory markings.
The town of Vallauris, situated just off the Côte d'Azur north of Cannes, has had a pottery tradition going back centuries but it was after the arrival of two key figures in the art world that the town developed it's reputation for producing distinctive art ceramics. Firstly a young man, Roger Capron, who had studied applied art and briefly acted as an art teacher moved there in 1946 and established a small pottery workshop called L'Atelier Callis. Then two years later Pablo Picasso moved there in 1948 and attracted other artists, and Capron was able to open a small pottery factory. Over the years it increased in reputation and size, but closed during a recession in 1982. However, Capron's ceramic designs, particularly his tiled top tables, and exagerated animal and human forms which are clearly influenced by Picasso's cubist paintings, have become highly collectable.
Each vase:
- Height approx. 28cm
- Width at base approx. 7cm
- Depth at base approx. 7cm
- Width at top approx. 3cm
- Depth at top approx. 3cm
