Francine Del Pierre

Francine Del Pierre (born December 2, 1917 in Paris ; died January 17, 1968 there ) was a French ceramic artist .

life and work

Francine Del Pierre worked as a journalist until she came into contact with clay for the first time in 1946 . She was so impressed by this experience that she herself described it as a metamorphosis . Within a few hours she decided to give up journalism and work as a ceramist. In order to learn how to work with clay, she moved to Vallauris with her painting friends Albert Diato and Gilbert Portanier . At that time the place was considered a village of potters . Picasso worked and lived there in his Madoura studio . Francine first learned to work on the potter's wheel , which she found to be extremely physically demanding. This was mainly due to the fact that no potter's wheel was available that corresponded to her small body size. With this in mind, Del Pierre decided to experiment with modeling works with clay rolls. She could not find any instructions for this type of work in Vallauris and so she returned to Paris with Albert Diato in the spring of 1951 and began exhibiting her works. During this time, the turning away from utility ceramics towards an artistic claim was confirmed. As early as 1952 she was able to exhibit in the Primavera Gallery in London and spent a few months in preparation for the exhibition in this city. There she met Bernard Leach , whose A Potter's Book had impressed her. The two stayed in contact throughout their lives and exhibited together several times. Del Pierre had a similar contact with the Japanese ceramicist Hamada Shōji .

Since the income from exhibitions and sales of her works was insufficient for a living , Del Pierre began teaching in 1955. In 1957 she took Fance Franck into her studio as a student. With the support of friends, the two women managed to buy a studio together on Rue Bonaparte two years later . This studio is still an exhibition space and work space for ceramists today. In the time when Fance Franck and Del Pierre worked there, it was considered a meeting place for friends, customers, students and patrons .

Del Pierre preferred to work with construction techniques throughout her work. She planned her pieces down to the last detail in drawn preliminary studies. Her handling of colors is considered subtle, often using several layers of transparent glazes and various shades of white with a few sprinkles in red, brown or green. The design is often complemented by simple botanical drawings.

Works by Del Pierre can be found in museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam , the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich , the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg , the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris and the Musée national de Céramique - Sèvres exhibited.

Solo exhibitions

• 1950 Cannes, Galerie Martin Cruzon,
• 1952 London, Primavera Gallery,
• 1953 Paris, MAI Gallery,
• 1954 Paris, MAI Gallery,
• 1956 Paris, MAI Gallery,
• 1958 Milan, Galleria dell'Ariete,
• 1958 Rome, Galleria Schneider,
• 1966 Friborg, Switzerland, Musée d'art et d'histoire.

Catalogs for exhibitions with the participation of Francine Del Pierre

• 1966 Hamada, Del Pierre, Leach , Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
• 1966 Sergio de Castro, Francine Del Pierre , Musée d'art et d'histoire de Friborg,
• 1967 Hamada, Del Pierre, Leach , Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
• 1968 Homage to Francine Del Pierre , Cahiers de la céramique du verre et des arts du feu, Nos 42-43 (supplément), Sèvres
• 1976 Francine Del Pierre , Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen
• 1976 European ceramics since 1950 , Museum for Art and Industry Hamburg
• 1981 Céramique française contemporaine. Sources et courants , Musée des Arts décoratifs , Paris
• 1991 Collection Fina Gomez , Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris

literature

• Antoine Gournay and Pierre Staudenmeyer: Francine Del Pierre, Fance Franck: Dialogue des céramistes , Norma Editions, 2004
• Antoine Gournay: Francine Del pierre, Fance Franck: L'art du potier, expression d'une vie , in: Revue de la Société des amis du Musée national de Céramique, No 15, 2006.

Web links

• Work of Francine Del Pierre. L'association Atelier Francine Del Pierre et Fance Franck, accessed April 10, 2016 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography of Francine Del Pierre. L'association Atelier Francine Del Pierre et Fance Franck, accessed April 10, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Francine DELPIERRE (France). (No longer available online.) Ceramics Collection and Archive, Aberystwyth University, archived from the original on December 20, 2013 ; Retrieved April 10, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.