Auguste Delaherche (27 December 1857 – 27 June 1940) was a French ceramicist, who was a leading figure in French

art pottery Art pottery is a term for pottery with artistic aspirations, made in relatively small quantities, mostly between about 1870 and 1930. Typically, sets of the usual tableware items are excluded from the term; instead the objects produced are mostly ...

through the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

period. Like other leading French potters of the period, he was intensely interested in

ceramic glaze Ceramic glaze is an impervious layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fused to a pottery body through firing. Glaze can serve to color, decorate or waterproof an item. Glazing renders earthenware vessels suitable for holding ...

effects of colour and surface texture. He began his career making

stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refracto ...

, but later also made

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

in his studio. After some years potting in Paris, in 1894 he returned to his native region, and ten years later changed his operation to a one-man studio pottery. He also moved in stages from making exclusively stoneware to only making porcelain.

Career

He trained at the

École des Arts Décoratifs École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région ...

in Paris. At the start of his career he worked in other artistic media, restoring

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

, designing "religious jewellery" and as head of the

electroplating Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct electric current. The part to be ...

department at the firm of

Christofle Christofle is a French manufacturer and retailer of high-end tableware, jewelry and home accessories. Founded in Paris by Charles Christofle in 1830, the company is known for making fine Household silver, silverware. Christofle was acquired in 20 ...

in Paris, who had pioneered the technique. He began potting with

salt-glazed Salt-glaze or salt glaze pottery is pottery, usually stoneware, with a glaze of glossy, translucent and slightly orange-peel-like texture which was formed by throwing common salt into the kiln during the higher temperature part of the firing pro ...

in 1883 near Beauvais, and in 1887 bought the atelier of

Ernest Chaplet Ernest Chaplet (1835 in Sèvres – 1909 in Choisy-le-Roi) was a French designer, sculptor and ceramist. He was a key figure in the French art pottery movement, and his works are held in international public collections such as the Musée d'Orsa ...

in rue Blomet, Paris. Chaplet had moved to

Choisy-le-Roi Choisy-le-Roi () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Geography Choisy-le-Roi is located southeast from the center of Paris, on both banks of the river Seine. The neighbouring commu ...

in the suburbs. Initially he made stoneware pieces in several versions, and did not do the throwing himself, giving drawings to assistants. His pieces were almost all vases of one sort or another. He preferred relatively simple basic shapes, often augmented with bold ribs or handles, concentrating on the surface effects, especially high-temperature "flambé" glazes. His work came to the notice of other potters at the exhibition held by the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs in 1887, and then won prizes at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889. He won gold medals at both, and the Exposition Universelle of 1900, again in Paris. In 1894 he left Paris and set up his workshop at "Les Sables Rouges", in the hamlet of Armentières, Oise, near the village of

Lachapelle-aux-Pots Lachapelle-aux-Pots () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. Birthplace in 1874 of the poet, musician, painter, and art critic Léon Leclère (Tristan Klingsor). See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a ...

, and his hometown of Beauvais, and in the traditional stoneware potting district of the

Pays de Bray The Pays de Bray (, literally ''Land of Bray'') is a small (about 750 km²) natural region of France situated to the north-east of Rouen, straddling the French departments of the Seine-Maritime and the Oise (historically divided among the ...

. He was rarely seen in Paris thereafter, though his pieces continued to be sold at the top galleries there, and as a result he acquired in the Paris art scene something of a myth as a rural "hermit". He also began to make

pieces. In 1904 there was a major change in his way of working, as he became, in modern terms, a

studio potter Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...

. He let go his assistants, and thereafter made unique pieces, mostly (and eventually all) in porcelain, carrying out all the stages of production himself. He was said to use

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

dug from his own garden, and according to

Bernard Leach Bernard Howell Leach (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery". Biography Early years (Japan) Leach was born in Hong Kong. His mother Eleanor (née ...

, he only fired his kiln once a year, remaining awake for thirty hours to ensure the correct temperature was maintained. The former claim must only refer to stoneware, as the region's clay is very suitable for this, and it is where it was first made in France, but the clay lacks the

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

needed for porcelain. Indeed, pottery clay was still being extracted commercially at Armentières in 1974. He was created a "chevalier" of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1894, with the painter René Ménard as sponsor, and in 1920 promoted to "officier".

Legacy

His bust by

Pierre Félix Masseau Pierre Félix Masseau (17 March 1869, in Lyon – 14 April 1937, in Paris), known professionally as Fix-Masseau. He was a noted French sculptor and father of poster artist Pierre Fix-Masseau with whom he is sometimes confused with. Fix-Massea ...

is in the

Musée départemental de l'Oise The ''Musée départemental de l'Oise'' (MUDO, Museum of the Oise Department) is a museum in the former bishop's palace in Beauvais, Oise, in northern France. It is classified as a historical monument. Building history The museum is housed in th ...

(MUDO) in Beauvais, which also claims to have the "most important" collection of his ceramics. The Musée de la Poterie de La Chapelle aux Pots has a collection. Other large museum collections have examples, especially in France, the United States, and Britain. One group assembled by the American collector, Ellen Dexter Sharpe (1861–1963), who corresponded with Delaherche, has mostly ended up in the

Rhode Island School of Design Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877, and still shares multiple build ...

. File:Vase with peacock feathers MET DP325406 (cropped).jpg, Vase with

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

feathers, stoneware, c. 1889 File:Clevelandart 1997.288 (cropped).jpg, Stoneware vase:

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

with silver mounts and glass beads, 1890 File:Vase MET DP330151 (cropped).jpg, Vase, stoneware, c. 1890 File:Vase MET DP332478 (cropped).jpg, Vase, stoneware, c. 1890 File:Vase MET DP332479 (cropped).jpg, Vase, stoneware, c. 1893 File:Tall vase with four handles MET DP315670 (cropped).jpg, Vase, stoneware,

sang de boeuf glaze Sang de boeuf glaze, or sang-de-boeuf, is a deep red colour of ceramic glaze, first appearing in Chinese porcelain at the start of the 18th century. The name is French, meaning " ox blood" (or cow blood), and the glaze and the colour sang de boeu ...

, shape recorded in a sketchbook of 1893; 12 examples were made."Tall vase with four handles"
ca. 1893–94,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Musée de la poterie de Lachapelle-aux-Pots jase de jardin (cropped).JPG, Garden vase, after 1894 File:Auguste Delaherche - Covered Bowl - 1973.146 - Cleveland Museum of Art (cropped).tif, Covered stoneware bowl, with metal mounts, 1899-1900 File:Auguste Delaherche photo portrait.png, Photo published in 1900 File:Auguste delaherche, vaso, armentiéres 1900 ca.jpg, Vase, 1900 File:Auguste delaherche, coppa in porcellana, 1903.JPG, Porcelain cup, 1903

Notes

References

*"Beauvais"
PDF history of Beauvais ceramics
Office de Tourisme de l’Agglomération de Beauvais (in French) *"Grove": "Delaherche, Auguste", in ''The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts'', Volume 1 of two-volume set, ed. Gordon Campbell, p. 307, 2006, Oxford University Press, USA, , 9780195189483
google books
*"MUDO"
"Vase à six côtes verticales, Auguste DELAHERCHE – 1892"

*"Orsay"
biography

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

*Sullivan, Elizabeth, "French Art Pottery", In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014
online
*Tornier, Etienne, "Auguste Delaherche et les Etats-Unis (1889–1953)" (in French), in ''Bulletin du groupe de recherches et d'études de la céramique du Beauvaisis'' (GRECB), 2012
PDF on Academia.edu
*"V&A"
biography
from the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Career

Legacy

Notes

References

Further reading