Collecting Vallauris ceramics can be rewarding; for, amongst the vast anonymous production simply stamped or engraved 'VALLAURIS', some real gems can be found.

A name or signature, however, is no guarantee of quality.

Experience shows that the same studio or factory did produce works of widely varying standards.
These, however, can satisfy the wide ranging taste of today's collectors.

The combination of industrial and crafts modes of production succeeded in producing some 'awful' results that have given Vallauris a bad name; synonymous with cheap kitsch:

Since, in some cases — such as 'écume de mer' — experimental glazes were applied by hand — like paint on a canvas — it is possibe to find some pieces where the glazier excelled and, helped by the gift of chance, produced a work of surprising quality. 

The vase below (inscribed 'Vallauris' and  'décor main'), was  hand-thrown; which adds a supplement to the overall quality of the piece:

The piece was probably made by 'Fady', who identified his production with a paper sticker:

sometimes during the 1950s.

This small vase, below, decorated with the same 'écume de mer' glaze, was slip cast:

As its name indicates, the 'écume de mer' glaze developed in Vallauris during the 1950s, aimed to suggest the visual effects of the sea waves, as they break onto the beach and let a froth of bubbles and salt spread onto the sand:

On closer inspection, however, some 'écume de mer' glazes also suggest the materiality of pitted rocks under the breaking waves:

Ironically a great glaze effects may be found either on a banal, conventional shape (amphora, jug) or on an experimental one, as on these two re-shaped and carved vases by Le Vaucour:

One must educate one's eye to discriminate between the good and the mediocre and to comb the field till you discover a piece of distinctive quality; accepting that he 'masterpiece' of one collector may be viewed as 'utter kitsch' by another… 
De gustibus…

The date is 1949 (the date this postcard was sent from Vallauris).

The photograph shows a view from one of the traditional potteries that had existed in Vallauris since the 18th century (and before), that specialized in making cooking pots, storage jars ('Jarres') and domestic wares (plates, serving dishes, fruit bowls, pitchers, etc.) in 'terre vernissée': earthenware pots decorated with simple yellow and/or green glazes according to a tradition that went back to the Middle Ages.

After World War II the storage jars went on being produced, for use  as garden ornaments.

On the display plank we note a vase with two handles 'torsadés', made by the 'hansiste' consisting of two ropes of clay.

The development, between the two wars, of cheap faience, industrially produced in northern French factories (Sarreguemines, Digoin), made Vallauris 'terres vernissées' obsolete and many workshops and factories closed.
After World War II some of these factories were bought by new comers who instigated a renaissance.

Traditionally, Vallauris 'fabriques' produced their ware using labor-intensive (hand-made) modes of production (hand throwing, glazing and decorating), using the local red clay.


THE DECORATIVE TRADITION REPRESENTED BY THE MASSIER DYNASTY: 
Alongside these traditional manufactures the Massier family produced decorative wares for the international luxury market; specializing in lustre glazes. 
In the shaddow of the Massier, some potters, like Georges Baud, who had worked as decorator for Clément Massier, set up his own studio 'Poteries d'Art', at nearby Golfe Juan, to manufacture decorative wares.
His work consisted of hand-thrown earthenware pots decorated with Ripolin paint which he did not fire:

This technique, removed the need for a second firing and all the losses associated with it, and the was adopted by Louis Giraud and others during the 30s and 40s; but was later replaced by glazed wares; for the Rpolin paint wore off or lifted with use:

MEANWHILE IN RUSTIC LAND…

Returning to the traditional Vallauris studio, here Saltalamacchia, we see the two main 'ouvriers' involved in the making of pots at work: the thrower ('tourneur') and the handle-maker ('hansiste'); for these two aspects of the work were carried out by two different specialists.

The thrower (front) and the 'hansiste' (back).

Calvas-Blanchon. Hand-thrown earthenware. Terre vernissée. 1947-50.

Here is an earthenware vase, made at that time, by Jean Calvas, showing the combined use of the two traditional glazes used for cooking pot, bowls, etc.:

Hand-thrown earthenware decorated with running green and yellow glazes. 1947-50.

Hand-thrown earthenware decorated with dots in brown slip and yellow glazes. Honoré MIlazzo 1930s.

The vase below was made by Honoré Milazzo (who came to Vallauris in 1879 and, in 1912, was supplying blanks to the Massier factory), at 'La Bonne Ménagère', the pottery he set up during the 30s. The firm became Art Céramique during the 40s and 50s. 

Joseph set up his own workshop 'Le Vieux Vallauris' in 1880.

The rather heavy form uses a blue glaze and free running effect that recalls the meyhod used in Puisaye by the Pointu family and other stoneware potters:

Jean/Joseph (?) MIlazzo. Vase. Hand-thrown earthenware, decorated with blue runny glaze. Stamped 'J. Milazzo. La Bonne Ménagère'. H.: 22cm.

In these potteries, traditional hand-thrown shapes were decorated with traditional glazing techniques; below a dripping pattern was complemented by sgraffito, which emulated, by different means, the snake skin glazes developed by the stoneware potters of Puisaye (Carriès, Lion, Pointu…); adding the color of the clay to the limited palette of yellow, brown, green and blue available:

Beretta-Barnouin (1950-58) resulted from the association of a thrower (Beretta), who had opened a workshop in 1945, to produce culinary wares, and Barnouin. 

From 1958, the firm only produced decorative wares.

This seems to have been a cutting point date for the traditional potteries.


A touch of Art Déco was sometimes added by traditional poteries to update their rustic designs; as in the handles on this vase by the short-lived firm Calvas-Blanchon (1947-1950):

Calvas-Blanchon, Vase. Hand-thrown earthenware,'vernissée'. 1947-50.

The addition of a cobalt blue glaze added a modern note to the rustic palette

In association with Jean Rossignol Jean Calvas set up the firm FPP (Faience et Poteries Provençales), where he remained till 1967.

Together, they shifted production from the traditional range of 'terres vernissées' to more contemporary designs; such as this Picasso inspired pitcher:

and to brighter and more colorful (more appealing to popular taste) designs for the mass tourist trade; as in this cheese tray:

FPP, cheese tray. Slip cast white clay. 1950s.

Later, with the fashion for lava-type glazes, FPP produced coffee sets, vases and decorative items similar to those produced by other (more avant-garde) studios such as that of 'Mabyjo' of Marius Mussara, Le Vaucour, Marius Giuge, etc.:

FPP, Coffee set. Slip cast white clay. 1960s. 

During the 1950s, Sebastien Granjean and the Jourdan family set up the 'Granjean-Jourdan' poterie which started by producing traditional 'terres vernissées':

In 1957, following his father's death, Eugène Granjean took over the firm and took it in a radically new direction. Besides stylised figurative designs, the firm produced the extremely popular faux-bois decor that it applied to vases, mugs, coffee sets, etc.:

Whereas studios like Gerbino's (1930-) went on producing their wares for decades, newcomers, capitalizing on the availability of traditional skills, studio spaces and raw materials, set up small workshops that produce new designs using traditional craft skills, and could be economically viable.

Picault and Capron, combined the industrial technique of slip casting with hand decoration, and produced works of artistic quality at prices that could remain affordable and reach wide audiences .

Recent speculation about Capron's ceramics is now, unfortunately, working against his original intentions and pricing the works out of reach of collectors with a modest budget. The once popular and affordable serially-produced ornaments are now highly collectable, and command prices that can only be explained by fashion and auction room manipulation.

Picault's works, by contrast, have not yet been subjected to the same price inflation, and can still be bought at reasonable prices; although the price for the same plate can vary between £20 and 75 euros (whereas an equivalent item by Capron would be unrealistically priced at between 120 and 550 euros!

Robert Picault, Bowl decorated with painted and sgraffiteoed geometric moftifs. 1950s.

Thus, the serially-produced, affordable decorative ceramics made for  the tourist trade, at his show room, during the 50s:

are now commanding vastly inflated studio prices; like this modest 'vide poche' priced 260 €:

REMARKS ON COLLECTING: 
As with all popular, mass-produced ceramics, a name or signature is no guarantee of quality.
The standard Vallauris pieces tend to be formulaic; both in shapes and glazes:

To cater for the tourist market many manufacturers produced the same type of items, as shown above, in a selection currently for sale on ebay, in addition to their more artistically ambitious range.

The majority of mass-produced ceramics were only stamped 'Vallauris', with the addition 'fait main' or 'décor main', as a label of 'quality' (like an 'appelation controlée').
Some manufacturers (like Luc) added a paper label with their name; but these were often removed or dropped; which makes identification difficult not to say impossible. 

Studio with an artistic ambition tended to stamp their name alongside Vallauris: Giraud, Le Vaucour, Giuge, J. Massier, Picault, Capron, etc.

Small studios like Les Argonautes, Le Grand-Chêne, Le Murier, Thiry, A.R. Roux, Dominique and Micheline Baudart, Jean Marais, identified themselves with their name or a symbol.


Louis Giraud (1896-1985) set up his studio in Vallauris during the 1920s and contributed to the Vallauris renaissance first by importing Art Déco elements, then by producing an ambitious and wide ranging body of works, assisted by his 'chef d'atelier' Alexandre Kostanda (1949-53), who later set up his own studio (1953).

This slip cast vase combines an Art Deco element with a sculptural quality reminiscent of 'primitive' sculpture:

This vase (1950s) is decorated with a lava type glaze that recalls the rock formations that bears the incrustations of small molluscs and the erosion of the sea. 

This hand-thrown sculptural vase is made of two hand-thrown shapes joined together and cut to produce an original composition that aspires to the condition of sculpture:

One recognizes the style of Kostanda here and in this small picher:

The heavy, but fluid 'écume de mer' glaze, was used on a variety of items; from small bowls to large chargers, 

and were emulated by Marius Giuge, with a more mineral quality:

The radical cutting of part of the vessel as an essential part of the design is evident in this purely decorative pitcher, made by Kostanda soon after he set up his own studio with his mother, in 1953.

After his move to Biot, Giraud's work, seems to have reverted to

 a more traditional 'terre vernissées' range, as documented on this plate:


Many Vallauris workshops adopted slip casting to mass-produce their designs and retail them at affordable prices; emphasizing the hand-made quality of the decoration.

Many factories often stamped their wares Vallauris, without identifying themselves.

In many cases a paper sticker identified the maker. Thus whereas 'Luc' (Lucchesi) sometimes engraved his name under the pots, in many instances he wrote 'VALLAURIS' and added a paper label.

The same with Fady, who also produced lava type glazes.

Although Le Vaucour invariably signed his range decorated with suprematist designs, his 'écume de mer' glazed pots tend to be marked Vallauris.

Since these popular ceramics were also sold in gift shops all around the country, the label 'Vallauris' functioned like an 'appelation controlée'; acting as a label of quality.

The small number of items bearing the name of the actual workshops makes identification difficult; especially since several studios used the same types of glazes, at the same time, when they were in demand.

It took me several years before I was able to identify a series of works characterized by a distinctive and spectacular sculptural form, but that only carried the name 'VALLAURIS' inscribed on the base. 

Seeing the inscription 'LE VAUCOUR' on one for sale on ebay enabled me to attribute the above pieces to him; and to acknowledge the wide range of decors Le Vaucour produced.

Likewise, the small number of pieces signed 'J(acques) Ribero' or 'RIBERO & Cie' does not tally with the production of that workshop

In the wake of Picassos experiments with clay at studio Madoura, a number of artists came to Vallauris to set up potteries with artistic ambitions fueled by the experience of studying in art schools: Roger Capron, Roger Picault and Jean Derval set up 'Callis', in 1947, before setting up their own workshops.
Juliette Derel arrived in 1950.