Likenesses and Differences.........by Cerelle

During the years between buying my first Quimper pieces, and having a chance to find more, other passions developed.

Meeting my husband, Bill, of course: our love of poodles came soon after, and we became interested in another artistic and cultural specialty, American Indian pottery. We are especially fond of that of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, and of our neighbors, the Pueblo Peoples of New Mexico.

We like visiting the Hopi Villages high on the mesas north of Winslow. The people live very simply, in a beautiful but harsh environment, yet have a rich cultural tradition, not unlike the Bretons in the Bretagne of the past.
The Hopis are friendly and hospitable, and soon we had many friends whom we enjoy very much.

On First Mesa, the women make pottery, while on Second Mesa the craft is coiled basketry, and on Third Mesa they make baskets of wicker that are woven in a different way.
We were especially attracted to the pottery and soon started buying, and as we began to collect, our friends began to educate us in the methods they used.

The clay is dug from locales belonging by heritage to specific families, sometimes near the ruins of an ancient village which was built by their ancestors. The pottery is handmade by coiling, sanded, and then polished with a smooth pebble which has often been handed down from mother to daughter (or now sometimes to a son). It is a surprise to most people to learn that the shiny surface of this pottery is not a glaze, but the result of hours of smoothing and polishing with that pebble.




Then, if they choose, it may be embellished with designs. The colors of the designs are all minerals; rocks found in the area and ground with a grinding stone to a powder and then moistened with water to make a thick paint. A strip of yucca is used as a brush to to paint the designs.

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Firing in an outdoor fire.

























Some potters, use a slip of white clay over the natural clay pot before polishing. This is the specialty of one extended family. To me, it is almost miraculous that with these materials of the earth, and the simple firing with the pots carefully stacked and covered with dried sheep dung as fuel, they produce these exquisite works of art.




















When we visited the Henriot faiencerie at Quimper, and the Faïenceries d'Art and Bourg-Joly in Malicorne, I saw basically the same process taking place: Soaking the clay, forming, and with the exception of the potters wheel and use of molds, all much the same. Glaze, of course, is much different, and they have the benefit of a controlled kiln, but still basically the same.




As impressed as I am with the skills of the French Faïence artists and seeing how they work, it has increased my respect for those Indian potters who do it all by hand, and after many hours of work, are at the mercy of a pot slipping in the fire, or the wind rising to blacken the pots with smoke. Many is the time we have gone with a friend to remove her pots from the cooled fire, only to see a beautiful bowl or pot in pieces.














It seems that people are more alike than they are different in the desire for not only utility, but also beauty in the expression of their culture..whether it be the gorse and bruyere, the costumes and coiffes of the Bretons...
or the thunderbird eagles and the water serpent, and the Kachinas and cloud steps of the Hopi.















It speaks to us of the people themselves, and we love it all.

Click here for the Heard Museum for more information about American Indian Art.

Cerelle.

BLUE has friends......................by Cerelle B

Blue with Red and White says "Homeland" to me, and to the French, "Patrie".

It brings forth feelings of Love of Country, as our flags and patriotic decorations are in this combination.

As we have recently seen in the World War I and World War II plates produced by Henriot, that combination of colors tells us to protect our country even before we read the rest of the message.

Click here and here to read more about these plates.

Let us all today remember and thank all of the men and women who fought to save our world and our freedom. We will not forget, and we salute you all on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009.
This faïence platter by Raymonde Pennanec'h shows the joy of the people on the day of liberation as they dance in the streets beyond the St. Corentin Cathedral in Quimper. (photo by Adela Meadows)


Blue with Yellow says Sea and Sunshine, and Sky and Sunflowers with their faces turned to the sun reflecting that yellow, cheery and happy...and is an oft used combination in the South of France.

This amusing jug with the fabulous flowers is by Delacourt...and the next, in the true intense sunlight yellow, is from Angouleme.


Blues with green says Peaceful and Cool, Meadows and Streams and fresh breezes.
These platters from Geo Martel say it all, do they not?



But blue has a special friend in the colors of Imari. Blue with the Rusty Red and sometimes highlighted with the glint of gold, are beloved and have been adopted in French Faïence.

Rouen, and later Desvres and other faïenceries including Quimper became enchanted with the combination. Many of the great chargers seen in museums are either blue and white or this great Imari inspired coloration, such as this one we saw at the museum in Rouen on our trip with the Quimper Club International in 2007.


I have a special old Imari charger that came to me from my grandmother. She was born in 1869, and I believe she received it no later than 1900. I imagine that it was already old then, but I do not know. It is another case of not being able to read the marks! My father always told me that it had been a gift to her that was brought back from Japan by a missionary friend. That too, was her proudly displayed treasure all her life long. Perhaps this love of hand painted ceramics is in the genes, do you think?




When I acquired two quite large Desvres chargers,
I found it very easy to display them with my Imari
plate and close to my de Porceleyne Fles Delft pieces.

They became immediate friends
and it pleases me to see them close together.


And well, you KNOW how one thing leads to another.

I love roosters, don't we all?
I once found this huge red glazed rooster, no mark at all, in an antique store in Springfield, Ohio...but he is wonderful and so he came home with us.

Then there was the Limoges tankard I saw in an antique store in Pasadena, California. It was SO beautifully painted in lovely reds and golds and some purples on the grapes...just a wonderful piece of art.

I DO NOT collect Limoges, I sternly told myself. But after we returned home, I weakened and wrote to the store and now here it sits among my Delft and my French faïence... my one example of Limoges, and he seems quite happy there, too.







It seems that so many styles of ceramics will be friendly, and the colors can make them very good companions.

I guess when it comes right down to it, my philosophy of collecting must be:
If you LOVE it, you LOVE it!

HAVING THE BLUES.....is a good thing, by Cerelle.

This week I'm linking Cerelle's post to the blogs of two very gracious hostesses Smiling Sally and her Blue Monday get together and Mary's Mosaic Monday gathering @ the little red house.
Maggie.

Cerelle's first trip to Paris continued.....................

There was another "first purchase" that started a collection on that Paris trip so long ago. During the last weeks we were in Paris, a woman appeared sitting on the corner of Boulevard Saint Marcel near our bus stop on Avenue des Gobelins.

She had several items she wanted to sell, sort of a "Sidewalk Vide Grenier".

One thing caught my eye from afar. It was a large blue and white plate, and as we got closer, I could see that it was beautifully painted. I thought right away that my mother would love it. This was the gift I wanted to take to her!

When I asked, "Combien?" the answer was the equivalent of $25. Not too bad in the money of those days..but still a lot for me.

The budget was getting pretty low, and we still had a couple of weeks to go. Each day we passed that way as we walked home from the bus, and each day the answer was the same. I was determined to buy this if I could only scrimp and save enough money until the end.When our last day came, I was pleased that she was there, still with her plate..and it was mine!

Leaving was hard, and packing everything was really difficult. Finally the plate went into the middle of the clothes in my trusty old Samsonite suitcase, and though I had to sit on it to make it close, the plate survived all the way back via boat train, and aboard the Flandré, and then on the bus to St. Louis.

At Christmas, when I at last got home to Phoenix aboard yet another Grayhound bus, it was still intact. I proudly presented it to Mother, and she considered it one of her treasures all the rest of her life.

We knew so little about it. Just that we liked it. It had plenty of marks on the back, and words painted on the front too, but source books on ceramics were unknown in our library, and so we just wondered.

Seems so strange now, with the internet and our access to so much information...but for many years we just loved it...and wondered.

When at last, Bill and I made our first trip to Europe together thirteen years after we were married, we started out in Delft.

There we visited the de Porceleyne Fles factory and museum.

With a photo of the plate and the marks on the back, we finally discovered the name of the artist and the date of the plate.

The words on the front, "naar Th. de Bok" are not the painter's name but mean "after a painting done by Théophile de Bok" (or Bock). The peaceful scene of a fisherman on a quiet stream was painted on the plate by Eugen Florian Bodart in 1897. I have since found that he is a highly respected artist, especially for his more innovative works done later. But this plate, in its simple pastoral setting, is a favorite still.

It is interesting how many wares have been made in this camaïeu bleu style. The beginning was the popular blue and white ware which was brought in by the Dutch East India Company, and then in the early 17th century, these were imitated by numerous other ceramic makers. Quimper was among the many who produced and still make designs in the camaïeu blue palette.

So even though my collection has de Porceleyne Fles Delft representatives, they blend very well with the many French faïence items.

Even unidentified hand painted plates attract me. This one from a French faïencerie is signed, but we do not know its origin. No matter, if you love it, you love it!

This blue and white palette is loved for its fresh and restful qualities, as was recently viewed in the homes in Dallas visited by the Quimper Club members.

Having the blues is a very good thing!

à bien tôt

Cerelle

New decor: Spirit of Christmas, HBHenriot.

We are delighted to be able to share news of a new HBHenriot Quimper decor for Christmas 2009, entitled “Spirit of Christmas”.
To celebrate the spirit of Christmas, Brittany Byways is offering readers of the QCI blog a 20% discount on all items decorated with this lovely pattern.
Click here to go directly to the Spirit of Christmas range on the Brittany Byways website, or simply click on the Christmas plate button at the top of the sidebar.
To take advantage of this offer, use the code QCI BLOG at checkout.
The offer is good until December 15 but orders must be received by November 25 to ensure delivery before Christmas.

How It All Began..................by Cerelle B

I'm linking up with Vintage Thingies Thursday over at Suzanne The Colorado Lady's place, please head over and visit our gracious hostess and everyone participating today.

The first of the summer was spent walking and exploring, and taking photos and sketching and writing in our journals... and EATING.

We walked to Montmartre and back...it seems a long way to me now, and sketched in the Jardin des Plantes and along the quais, and we spent hours in the Louvre, and being art students we were enchanted with everything.

We went to the Boulangerie for our bread early in the morning and ran home with it still hot in our hands. We got to know the stores for each different item, beef, pork, HORSE MEAT! (horrors..poor horse!),fresh vegetables, and so on. We found a fine little restaurant just across the Boulevard Saint Marcel called l'Entr'acte, and would order whatever we had not ordered before, and ate it and loved it and would go back home and look it up in our dictionaire. "Umm, tripe sausage, Hmm, brains, Ahhh, sweetbreads (what were they?). Hmm., kidneys." NO Matter, they had been GOOD, and we would order them again. We became friendly with the waitress, Maria, and she would suggest things to try, and told us our chef and owner was a retired French Line chef. Lucky us!

We visited my friends, Nicole and Pierre Chapo, who were artists and designers, and who later had a prestigious furniture business called Meubles Chapo. In these early days as "starving artists", they had a tiny one room flat with Pierre's drafting table and a bed and their baby Nicolas, who had been born in Phoenix where I had met them. We laughed and talked and shared Turkish coffee (I never could get used to sweet coffee!) and it was Nicole who took us on a circuitous route through the Latin Quarter where they lived above that student restaurant, to find this tiny shop with items from Normandy and Brittany as Nicole and Pierre were from Normandy and thought that we should see this.

Well, WHAT was this colorful pottery?

So many patterns, and so many designs!
Some a bit gaudy,
I thought..but so different.

They also had beautiful costumed dolls..I had always loved pretty costumes, and had collected Storybook dolls as a young girl..so of course had to have a couple of those too.

My budget was very tight and there was a whole summer ahead, but I bought a lug bowl which for years, I used for my café au lait, and a fabulous pitcher by Kereluc which was the stylized head of a lady in a tall lace coiffe, and a doll from Pont Aven and one from Brignogan, wherever those places where.



And so began my collection of Quimper. There is much more to my summer adventure for some other time, and the tale of how my collection finally got beyond my few pieces will come later,
and needless to say, it HAS grown over the years, but my love for both France and French faïence, especially that of Quimper, has never wavered.

Vive la France!

Cerelle

My Love Affair With France.....by Cerelle B

How did it all start, this love affair with Quimper faïence? I suppose to begin at the beginning, I have to transport you all back to when I was a young college girl and spent a whole summer living in France. I had saved my money from baby sitting and birthday and Christmas gifts, and every way I could think of for four years to make this trip. At last, off I went with one of my college roommates on a Grayhound bus from Washington University in St. Louis to New York City. We traveled aboard the Liberté, the classic French Line ship renowned for excellent food and beautiful decor by Lurçat and other fine artists, (in First Class anyhow which we sneaked up to see).
It was a wonderful trip, full of fun and other students, both French and American. The food, I must say, even in Tourist class was all that was expected of French chefs.

We docked at le Havre, and boarded the boat train to Paris.



In those days, the windows slid open, and we hung out devouring the scenery as we headed for Gare St. Lazare in Paris and our promising summer adventure. When we arrived, I was woefully ignorant and did not even have the phone number of my French friend who had found us a room we could rent. It was an interesting experience searching the phone books trying to decipher the system. and somehow I finally found the address, but not her name. I called, and not speaking more than a few words of French.. I just asked for her by name, please.





I later found that the phone was located in a student restaurant on the street level of the building, and my friend lived a couple of flights up..but someone went up and told her she had a phone call. Amazing!

My friend then called Mme, Pigny, the lady with whom we were to stay, and a bit later we were in a taxi with MUCH luggage..seems hard to believe that we used to travel that way. The taxi driver had a difficult time with my proud statement of the address. " Une sept sept rue Jeanne d'arc" I pronounced it well, too, as I had worked on THAT. Still, he was mystified. (Oh dear).


Finally he said, "Oooh..Cent soixente-dix sept rue Jeanne d'arc" My turn to say "Oooh..." Then he took us along the loveliest route, and proudly showed us the illuminated Opera, and other beautiful buildings, even that soon after the end of the War, lighted and glorious in the early evening dusk, a magical sight.




We drove past a handsome statue of Jeanne d'arc to number 177, and were welcomed in by the concierge and Mme Pigny, who spoke less English than we French, but so friendly and enthusiastic that we had come. Up three stories, yes, you KNOW that is really four..as the elevator, a lovely wrought iron encased relic, was not in use. (Nor was it to be all summer) Somehow we got Jane's trunk, and my hat box, and all our other luggage upstairs, and after some happy hand signal conversations, crashed into bed. In Paris, at last!!



That first morning, I was already enchanted with Paris!


We had a tiny balcony and I stepped out and took photos in both directions down our street. There on my left, was the statue of Joan of Arc, welcoming us all. The air was cool and fresh and smelled like we were out in the country!



I still have a vivid memory of that wonderful freshness.




















I turned and took my own photo in the mirror of the armoire that was across the room.






I treasure that moment in time, when I was first in Paris, and already knew that I was in love with France, a country I have since come to know quite well.







Cerelle,
To be continued...

(Thanks to Adela M. for the current photos of rue Jeanne d'arc)

A new month and a new Guest blogger....by Maggie B

That's right, Cerelle B is the QCI’s 2nd VP, responsible for the Club’s Web presence & New Member recruitment and she will be blogging for us this month, sharing tales of collecting and travelling.

To help you get to know her a little better here’s a short bio.

“While yet in high school, she developed a strong friendship with a French pilot who was stationed in Arizona. His tales of France and his personal charm won her interest, and the plan to visit France was formed. When in France for the first time, Cerelle had a "chance encounter" with Quimper which has changed her life in many ways.

As a college student, she studied fashion design and fine arts in St. Louis, Missouri. Then at graduation, winning a place on the Mademoiselle College Board, she moved to New York City. She enjoyed two years there working in the industry, then decided she would move back to her loved Arizona and spend her efforts doing something of more permanent value.

As a teacher of third grade students, she found ample opportunity to share her love of France, history, geography and art. On their many trips to France, she and her husband, Bill, followed routes to visit, learn about and photograph the historic places in France which she featured in her class.

Of course, those travels paused at each brocante, antiquites, vide grenier or market day where she might find another Quimper treasure! Now retired, she has served as a volunteer in the Arizona Costume Institute of the Phoenix Art Museum, as a member of the Collectors Study Club which is an invitational support group of the museum, and she has gotten into much more collecting trouble with the aid of internet auctions!”

Look out for Cerelle’s posts soon.

Today I’m also announcing the winners of our 100th blog post giveaway.

Comments on the 100th blog post were few and just 2 other bloggers took our button and displayed it on their own blog, thanks to Carol @ Serendipity and Sarah @ Hyacinths for promoting the QCI blog.

Nevertheless, this morning names went into a hat and Mr B did the honours.
Congratulations to Doris: Pouplard book, to Susan: Lisette calendrier.
and to Laurie: Petit Breton kitchen towel.

à bien tôt
Maggie