Gilbert Portanier, Bell

Gilbert Portanier (Born in 1926)
Born in Cannes, Gilbert Portanier studied at the Paris School of Fine Arts from 1945 to 1948. With his friends Albert Diato and Francine Del Pierre, he founded the Atelier du Triptyque in Vallauris. Their first pieces are quite thick but already very creative. They separated in 1950, Gilbert Portanier wishing to stay in Vallauris, while Diato and Del Pierre left for Paris. After training in various workshops, he opened his own in 1954, Chemin des Potiers where he still works. His first pieces are finely turned, and, by his training as a painter, he creates decor that will be his signature and his style in a light figuration, bordering on abstraction. Little by little, he evolves towards sculptures, sometimes monumental, always carrying this emblematic decor.
He used the red earth from Vallauris until the end of the 70s (end of its extraction) then he will work with white earth. From 1964 he collaborated with Rosenthal for table services, as well as for the production of publishing pieces.
He received the silver medal at the Brussels International Exhibition, the Grand Prix of the Faenza biennial in 1966. And exhibited many times in Germany where he is very appreciated.