Roger Guérin, Stylized Art Deco Fish, High-fire Salt-glazed Stoneware Sculpture, Bouffioulx Ca 1925

Rare stoneware fish sculpture produced by Roger Guérin in Bouffioulx (Belgium), unsigned.
Similar sculptures can be seen in "Au gré du grès – De l'Art Nouveau à l'Art Déco – Roger Guérin & Edgard Aubry" by Stéphane Pignolet, Cécile Schaack, and Inge Taillie, published in 2007 by the Musée Le Clockarium.

Biography: Roger Guérin (1896–1954) was a renowned Belgian ceramist (Bouffioulx) of the 20th century, particularly from the Art Deco period onward. He was a friend of Edgard Aubry. Born in Belgium in 1896, he showed a keen interest in ceramics from a very young age. He enrolled at the Université du Travail in Charleroi, where he took pottery classes with Willem Delsaux.

Moving from Art Nouveau to Art Deco (between 1915 and 1945), he created vases and sculptures in "high-fired stoneware" using a single firing (1300 °C), skillfully navigating both artistic styles of his time. From 1934 to 1939, he was appointed Professor at the Higher School of Decorative Arts in Cambre, Brussels.

Perfect in his work, he was contacted for numerous artistic collaborations and produced pieces for renowned artists (Belgian and international) such as Marcel Wolfers, Cris Agterberg (Amsterdam School, Netherlands), Thierry Van Rijswijck, Domien Ingels, Cris Lebeau (Amsterdam School, Netherlands), Angelo Hecq, and others. The vases with wrought iron mounts are the result of a collaboration with François Carion, creator of lighting fixtures and lamp bases for the French crystal manufacturer Muller Lunéville Frères.

He participated in numerous exhibitions and notably won the silver medal at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. His international recognition led to his work being exhibited at the Jensen Gallery in New York in 1947. His preferred forms were the spherical vase, faceted and geometric (quite timeless), and sculpture. Work comparable to Delaherche, Dalpayrat, Lenoble, Pointu…