£2,500
MODERN MADE: Modern British & Post-War Art, Design & Studio Ceramics | 650
Auction: 29 October 2021 at 11:00 BST
signed and dated '23 12 95', smoke fired earthenware
French ceramicist Pierre Bayle was considered one of the foremost ceramic artists of his generation, known for his beautifully crafted and intricate terra-sigillata smoke fired vessels. He obtained the first prize at the Biennale of Châteauroux in 1981. In 2002 he was was honoured with the Liliane Bettencourt Prize and was decorated Chevalier de Arts et des Lettres. Bayle’s work is now part of many of the leading institutional and private collections of ceramics around the world including the Musée de Sèvres, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
In an interview Bayle stated ‘I spend much time looking at nature. Certain potters have a mystic approach to life, worry about the Cosmos. I only look at plants, insects, nature, the bodies of people. My pots have bellies, necks, breasts, shoulder …’. He also explained: ‘I never sell a pot I do not love’. (Pierre Bayle, recorded by C. Humboldt and translated by Elke Blodgett, Ceramic Review, February 1990, no. 121)