CRIS AGTERBERG for ROGER GUERIN – ‘The Kiss’, sculpture of an embracing couple.
Rare edition in slightly pink crackled ceramic made by the Guérin workshops (Bouffioulx stoneware) in the 1940s. Very good condition, no restoration. Please note, a slight nuance in the shade at mid-height (see images). Sculpture not signed but listed.
Bibliography: Images on p54 and p80 "Au Gré du grès, de l'Art Nouveau à l'Art Déco" (see Photos)
Roger Guérin (1896–1954) is a Belgian ceramist (Bouffioulx) of great renown of the 20th century, especially of the Art Déco period and friend of Edgard Aubry. He was born in Belgium in 1896 and showed a keen interest in ceramics. He enrolled at the University of Work of Charleroi where he took "pottery" courses with Willem DELSAUX.
Moving from the Art Nouveau period to Art Déco (between 1915 and 1945), he created vases and sculptures in "GRES SALÉ GRAND FEU" in a single firing (1300°). He evolved with talent in both artistic styles of his time.
In 1934, he was appointed PROFESSOR at the Université Supérieur des Arts Décoratifs de la CAMBRE in BRUSSELS. Perfect in his achievements, he was contacted for numerous artistic collaborations and edited pieces for renowned artists (Belgian and foreign) such as Marcel Wolfers, Cris Lebeau and Cris Agterberg including 'Le Baiser', 'La Danse' and 'La Méditation' (School of Amsterdam in the Netherlands), Thierry Van Rijswijck, Domien Ingels, Angelo Hecq, François Carion,...
He participated in numerous exhibitions, notably obtaining the silver medal at the INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF INDUSTRIAL AND MODERN DECORATIVE ARTS IN PARIS in 1925. International recognition, he was found in 1947 at the JENSEN GALLERY in NEW YORK.
His favorite forms are: the ball vase, faceted, geometric (timeless), sculpture.
Work comparable to the works of Auguste Delaherche, Pierre Adrien Dalpayrat, Emile Lenoble, Léon Pointu, Ernest Chaplet, Decoeur, Paul Jeanneney (known as Loewenguht), Jean Carries, Bernard Leach...
Cristopher "Cris" Agterberg (1883–1948 – Dutch ceramic sculptor) was born in Amsterdam in 1883. Trained at the schools of applied arts in Amsterdam and Elberfeld (Germany), he then moved to Utrecht.
Versatile, he worked with jewelry, glass, leather, textiles and ceramics, but considered himself above all a sculptor. In the interwar period, he collaborated with several Dutch decorative arts manufacturers (Leerdam glassworks, Zenith and Zuid-Holland earthenware factories), although he preferred to produce small artisanal series himself (abstract bronzes, terracotta figures) in the style of the Amsterdam School.
He notably produced stylized bronze clocks (1920s), in which zoomorphic motifs and elongated female figures embody the decorative ideal of the Amsterdam School.
Agterberg follows in the footsteps of the great European ceramists of the turn of the 20th century. The French pioneers Théodore Deck and Edmond Lachenal laid the foundations for modern decorative ceramics. Lachenal, a master of Art Nouveau, profoundly influenced this movement with his organic forms and innovative glazes.
Agterberg took up this legacy by reinterpreting it through the geometric aesthetics of Art Deco. Among his contemporaries were the Frenchman Lucien Brisdoux (1878–1963), known for his stoneware vases with metallic enamels (gold, platinum), and the Belgian Roger Guérin (1896–1954), a great name in Art Deco, who produced several of his works (notably the stoneware sculpture The Kiss around 1930).
Agterberg's stylized bronze clocks, decorative vases (for example, an Art Deco copper vase decorated with naked women in 1940) and sculpted figures fully embody the Art Deco movement.
Sources: Biography and notice of works by C. Agterberg; studies on Lachenal and Deck; notices on Lucien Brisdoux and Roger Guérin.
Packaging and delivery costs to be expected:
Collection: Free
For Belgium: €30
For France: €50
For Europe: €80
For the rest of the world: €200
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