Menelika - Hélène Amoudruz And Charles Imbert - Glazed Earthenware Vase, Geneva Circa 1940

Menelika Art Pottery (Geneva, 1924-1960)
Hélène Imbert-Amoudruz (1894-1987) and Charles lmbert (1899-1985)
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Vase with openwork handles
Turned and modeled earthenware, speckled dark water green glaze, transparent overglaze
Monogrammed MK
Geneva, circa 1940
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H ~18 cm
Ø opening ~22 cm
Ø base ~13.5
L at handles ~32 cm
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Very good condition
A firing defect [see detail photo]
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In 1924, Hélène Imbert-Amoudruz (1894-1987) and her husband Charles lmbert (1899-1985) opened a ceramics workshop in the city of Geneva, rue du Stand, under the name “Poterie d'art Menelika”.
Like Marcel Noverraz in La-Chapelle-sur-Carouge, the Imbert-Amoudruz couple defended the ideal of creative and high-quality artistic craftsmanship. Their workshop contributed, especially during the interwar period, to making the Geneva region an extremely lively and original ceramic center.
[...]
This passionate couple immersed themselves with total pleasure in the world of ceramics, without necessarily claiming to have total mastery of the craft. Their earthenware, even among the most ambitious, also quite regularly exhibits firing defects. This imperfection ultimately contributes to the lyricism and naivety that Menelika considers to be founding qualities of the profound nature of their medium. [online notice from the Ariana Museum]
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Two pieces preserved at the Ariana Museum in Geneva could be proposed for comparison: the "Mermaid Cup" AR 2003-484 and the vase AR 2004-001. [see the french version for the links]