Paillasse The Old Clown / Jean Lafitte

Jean Lafitte, sculptor and painter Born in Péronne (Picardy) in 1932, his father, whom he knew little, was an acrobat clown at Pinder. In 1947 Firmin Bauby welcomed him to the Sant Vicens pottery where he discovered the resources of modelling. He began to design nativity scenes that did not conform to tradition but which testified in a moving way to his temperament and his tastes. In 1949, the revelation of the 17-year-old sculptor: a dying Christ, carved from a cherry tree trunk, and of which several international magazines reproduce the moving image. In 1950, Jean Lafitte showed a life-size Pieta in walnut wood, soon acquired by the Abbey of Saint-Michel de Cuxa for its abbey house. A patinated terracotta from the same period, Pauvresse à l'écuelle, belongs to Dr. Albert Dauch. This started painting in 1951. He set up his studio on Place Arago in 1954.