Raoul Lachenal (1885–1956) was a French potter. The son of

Edmond Lachenal Edmond Lachenal (3 June 1855 – 10 June 1948) was a French potter. He was a key figure in the French art pottery movement,Sullivan, Elizabeth, "French Art Pottery", In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014onl ...

, Raoul Lachenal worked in his father's studio until 1911, when he established a new workshop at

Boulogne-sur-Seine Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the Parisian area, located from its centre. It is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and th ...

. While some of Raoul Lachenal's

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 ...

ceramics resemble pieces by his father, he also produced distinctive

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 ...

that can hold its own against works by master glaze artists like

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 ...

and Albert Dammouse.JJ At his best, Lachenal can rightly be compared to these titans of the 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 ...

renaissance. Lachenal first exhibited his Art Nouveau stoneware at Paris salons in 1904. Period photographs show pieces with organic body forms, looping handles, and incised decoration similar to Edmond Lachenal's work from around 1900. Given the fact that father and son shared an atelier, the question of authorship is murky on several levels, notably those of direct influence and possible collaboration. Nonetheless, the son's stoneware is distinguished by its sophisticated use of conventionalized motifs and layering of high-temperature glazes. His whiplash handle vase is a masterpiece of body design and glaze effects, with the handles deftly composed around the piece's lip and shoulder breathing new vitality into an overused Art Nouveau

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...

. What really brings this piece to life, though, is its thickly applied high-temperature glaze, whose palette of purple hues is as varied as the subtle shifts in depth across the body's surface. Similarly, Lachenal's treatment of the peacock feather refreshes a motif that harks back to the English

Aesthetic Movement Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be prod ...

of the 1870s. Thanks to unexpected juxtapositions of matte and glossy areas, the vertically arranged feathers border on abstraction and yield a complex figure and ground relationship between the motif and the surrounding space. Such optical complexity challenges the viewer's perception of familiar imagery. Lachenal's trumpet neck vase wears a remarkable volcanic glaze whose pitted surface is astonishingly fresh, almost contemporary. Here the purposeful juxtaposition of an overall cratered surface and a matte glaze shoulder reveals keen sensitivity to textural effects. These three vases refute traditional accounts of Raoul Lachenal's Art Nouveau ceramics as undifferentiated restatements of his father's style from the same period.

References

External links

*"JJ"
Biography at Jason Jacques Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lachenal, Raoul 1885 births 1956 deaths French potters Art Nouveau designers 20th-century ceramists