Gilbert Portanier - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This book offers a personal insight into the life of the artist Gilbert Portanier, who is considered one of the most significant proponents of French postwar ceramics. Text in English and French.

Gilbert Portanier (1926-2023) is considered one of the most significant proponents of French postwar ceramics. His work was influenced by a harmonious combination of ceramic form and gestural painting, in which his experimental surface techniques and a free vocabulary of forms opened up the possibilities of what studio ceramics could be. Delicate yet powerful illustrations lend the objects and sculptures their very own radiance, which extends far beyond the purely sculptural. Through his oeuvre, created over many decades, he contributed fundamentally to the international recognition of French ceramic art. Gilbert Portanier: When Ceramics Embrace Color offers a very personal insight into the life of the artist. It presents his work to impressive effect in its native environment: the studio-residence the artist created on the French Riviera for him and his wife, Annette.

Text in English and French.

About the Author

Gilbert Portanier, born on September 28, 1926 in Cannes and died on August 15, 2023 in Golfe-Juan, is a French ceramist-painter, painter, designer, engraver and sculptor. He is one of the figures of the revival of French art ceramics in Vallauris and enjoys wide international recognition. Portanier's work is defined by a fusion between painting, sculpture and ceramics, the latter being his preferred medium. His style is marked by the spontaneity of the line and the use of bright colors.