CRIS AGTERBERG for ROGER GUERIN ‘The Kiss' sculpture of an embracing couple.
Rare edition in cracked, slightly pink ceramic made by the Guérin workshops (Bouffioulx stoneware) in the 1940s.
Very good condition, no restoration. Note a slight nuance in the colour at mid-height (see images).
Sculpture not signed but listed.
- Artist / Designer:CRIS AGTERBERG (1883 - 1948).
- Signature / Monogram:No.
- Issuer / Manufacturer:ROGER GUERIN.
- Period:20th Century / Mid Century / 1940 - 1960.
- Country of Origin:Belgium.
- Dimensions (H x W x D):50cm x 16cm x 16cm.
- Weight:2 Kg.
- Condition:Excellent.
- Style:Art Deco.
- Material:Ceramic, Crazed - Raku ware.
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Price:1450 €
Bibliography: Images on p54 and p80 ‘Au Gré du grès, de l'Art Nouveau à l'Art Déco' (see Photos)
Roger Guérin (1896-1954) was a Belgian ceramist (Bouffioulx) of great renown in the 20th century, especially in the Art Deco period, and a friend of Edgard Aubry. He was born in Belgium in 1896 and showed a keen interest in ceramics. He enrolled at the Université du Travail in Charleroi, where he took pottery classes with Willem DELSAUX. Moving from the Art Nouveau period to Art Deco (between 1915 and 1945), he created vases and sculptures in ‘GRES SALE GRAND FEU' in a single firing (1300°). He developed his talent in the 2 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 creations, he was contacted for numerous artistic collaborations and produced pieces for well-known artists (Belgian and foreign) such as Marcel Wolfers, Cris Lebeau and Cris Agterberg, including ‘Le Baiser' ‘La Danse' and ‘La Méditation' (Amsterdam School in the Netherlands), Thierry Van Rijswijck, Domien Ingels, Angelo Hecq, François Carion, etc.
He took part in numerous exhibitions, winning a silver medal at the EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE DES ARTS DECORATIFS INDUSTRIELS ET MODERNES DE PARIS in 1925.
International recognition followed in 1947 at the JENSEN GALLERY in NEW YORK.
His favourite forms are: the ball vase, faceted, geometric (timeless), sculpture.
His work is comparable to that 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 ceramics sculptor) was born in Amsterdam in 1883. Educated at the schools of applied arts in Amsterdam and Elberfeld (Germany), he then moved to Utrecht. A versatile artist, he worked in jewellery, glass, leather, textiles and ceramics, but considered himself first and foremost a sculptor. Between the wars, he worked with a number of Dutch decorative arts manufacturers (Leerdam glassworks, Zenith and Zuid-Holland earthenware factories), although he preferred to produce small series himself (abstract bronzes, terracotta figures) in the style of the Amsterdam School. His most notable works include stylized bronze clocks (1920s), in which zoomorphic motifs and elongated female figures embody the decorative ideals of the Amsterdam School.
Agterberg follows in the footsteps of the great European ceramists of the turn of the XXᵉ century. The French pioneers Théodore Deck and Edmond Lachenal laid the foundations of modern decorative ceramics. Lachenal, a master of Art Nouveau, profoundly influenced this movement with his organic forms and innovative glazes . Agterberg picked up on this heritage, reinterpreting it through the geometric aesthetics of Art Deco. His contemporaries included the Frenchman Lucien Brisdoux (1878-1963), renowned for his stoneware vases with metallescent enamels (gold, platinum), and the Belgian Roger Guérin (1896-1954), a great name in Art Deco, who published several of his works (notably the stoneware sculpture The Kiss, circa 1930). Agterberg's stylised bronze clocks, decorative vases (such as an Art Deco copper vase decorated with nude women in 1940) and sculpted figures fully embody the Art Deco movement.
Sources: Biography and notes on works by C. Agterberg; studies on Lachenal and Deck; notes on Lucien Brisdoux and Roger Guérin.
Packing and delivery costs to be expected:
Collection: Free.
For Belgium: 30€.
For France: 50€.
For Europe: 80€.
For the rest of the world: 200€.