Baby With Pancake

HB Manufacture in Quimper.
Dimensions: Height 14 cm.
Polychrome earthenware, circa 1930.
A lack of glaze on the child's cap has been restored.

Berthe Savigny (1882 - 1958):
Berthe Savigny was born in Quimper. Her father was a wine and spirits merchant but also an enlightened amateur painter. He was a friend of Gauguin, Appolinaire and Max Jacob. It was therefore in this artistic world that Berthe Savigny grew up. Moreover, her brothers and sisters all embraced an artistic career, as did her nephews. The most famous was undoubtedly Pierre De Belay, her younger brother. Suffering from partial deafness due to an accident, the practice of art allowed Berthe to break her isolation. It was the success of these famous babies that in 1926 brought her into contact with the HB Manufacture. In 1939, the Manufacture tried to put her under contract, but was never successful due to a lack of agreement on the latter. This did not prevent the Manufacture from mass-producing different models, with the artist retaining ownership of her works. Berthe Savigny, like her younger brother, were purely self-taught. She did not limit herself to modeling; she painted extensively, although this aspect of her is less well known. She had a rich artistic life, working in collaboration with her friend, painter and poet Émile Bernard (a figure of the Pont-Aven school). While many of her works depict children, she did not neglect landscapes, still lifes, and scenes of daily life. Her style is imbued with great tenderness and sensitivity. After her death in 1958, her nephew, Paul Alexandre Savigny Trognée, continued to perpetuate his aunt's work in his Parisian studio. Since 2001, the Breton art pottery has been producing four of the artist's models in collaboration with the family.