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 gainsin 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 wasinstitutional, yet he achieves prices of one-offmasterpieces 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 atauction 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 Martzput 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 Ceramicsinto the same league.But then some dumbass comes along and starts reproducingall the designs and fucks it all up.That says a lot about the way Americans thinkvs the way the French think....