PIERRE LÈBE (1929-2008) - Lot 79

PIERRE LÈBE (1929-2008) Flat vase with a neck featuring a ridge. Porcelain proof with thick white overglaze. Circa 1970. Signed LÈBE under the base. Minor chip to neck. Height: 20.5cm - Length: 20cm Bibliography: Philippe Chambost, Pascal Marziano and Arnaud Serpollet - 1947-2017, 70 ans d'expression céramique française - Éditions Les livres de l'îlot, Neuvic, 2020. Our work reproduced on page 222. Bibliography and related works: Collectif - Pierre Lèbe . une donation au Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Agen - Catalogue of the exhibition held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Agen from May 17 to September 22, 2008, museum edition, 2008. An identical model is reproduced on page 27. A native of Tonneins in the Lot-et-Garonne region, Pierre Lèbe began his artistic training in Paris, first at the École des Métiers d'Arts and then at the École des Arts Décoratifs, where he attended the sculpture workshop. He soon became interested in stoneware - which was to become his preferred medium - following in the footsteps of La Borne pioneers Jean and Jacqueline Lerat (1913-1992) & (1920-2009), Yves Mohy (1928-2004) and Élisabeth Joulia (1925-2003). Like them, and like the Japanese potters who inspire him, he prefers to magnify shapes and materials. He creates works in turned stoneware that resonate with nature, distinguished by their sobriety and density. At the same time, he also turns to modeling and sculpture; free from the wheel, he leads his preferred forms towards greater abstraction. He works with clay and values it for its own sake, creating his own chamotte clay and plant-ash glazes - which give the skin of his vases the subtle glazing effects and surface texture characteristic of his plastic research. In 1968, like Yves Mohy, he began designing utilitarian pieces for the Virebent porcelain factory - translating his pure forms into this material. Proposing the application of stoneware glazes on porcelain, which was too far removed from the porcelain maker's expectations, Lèbe continued his research in his own kilns, creating pieces remarkable for their refinement and contrast. In addition to ceramics, Pierre Lèbe also explored the textile arts, drawing, sculpture, furniture design (mainly coffee tables), wall panels and architectural elements; he took a fair view of all the arts and means of expression. From 1970 onwards, he devoted himself exclusively to his artistic work, leaving his teaching post to fully embrace his protean creative project. During the 1960s and 1970s, he exhibited his work throughout France, notably at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, of which he was a member, exhibiting on numerous occasions between 1963 and 1977. The famous Mai gallery in Paris presented his work as early as the mid-1960s. Pierre Lèbe's curiosity, mastery of techniques and innovations in ceramics and other disciplines, as well as his commitment to passing on his knowledge, truly epitomize the figure of the creator.