Incollect Magazine - Issue 15

26 www.incollect.com ROGER CAPRON (1922–2006) was among the most inventive and influential figures in postwar French ceramics, a designer whose long career encompassed studio pottery, furniture, architectural ceramics and sculpture. Born in Vincennes and trained at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris, Capron moved to Vallauris in 1946, as the Provençal pottery center was emerging as a magnet for a new generation of artists and ceramicists. There, with Robert Picault, he founded Atelier Callis; Jean Derval joined them the following year. Together they participated in the remarkable postwar revival of ceramics for which Vallauris became internationally known. Capron believed that good design should be accessible. Inspired by his teacher René Gabriel’s principle of making beautiful things available to everyone, he combined traditional ceramic techniques with modern forms and methods of serial production. In 1952, he acquired a former pottery in Vallauris. He expanded his own production, making everything from vessels and decorative objects to architectural ceramics and the tiled tables that remain among his most recognizable designs. His workshop eventually grew into a substantial operation, employing around 120 people by 1980. Today Capron’s work has a particularly visible presence at the hotel Cheval Blanc in St-Tropez, where his ceramics and furniture are incorporated throughout Jean-Michel Wilmotte’s interiors, reinforcing the designer’s enduring association with the colors, materials and atmosphere of the Mediterranean. We spoke with Incollect dealer Deborah Coleman of Pavillon Antiques in Chicago about why Capron matters — and what collectors should know before buying his work. Why Roger Capron? left: Le Soleil series coffee table with varied bands of colorful glazed ceramic tiles and large radiant sun motif tile. Steel structure. Signed, Vallauris, France, circa 1960s. From Pavilion Antiques on Incollect.com below: Le Jour et la Nuit lamp created with Jean Derval. In the rare version with blue and gray glazed ceramic. Signed, Vallauris, France, circa 1969. From Pavilion Antiques on Incollect.com