Jean MARAIS, Enamelled and signed stoneware pot, 1960s

Height: 11 cm, Diameter: 20 cm. Good condition.
Jean Marais, potter:
To occupy his free time, Jean Marais decided to make pottery, using a brand new kiln in the workshop of his new home. In Vallauris, he placed an order for 200 kilos of clay and, on June 6, 1973, had a chance encounter with Nini Pasquali (1927-2018) and her husband Jo, a potter in this town near Cannes. His life was about to change. What followed was a wonderful friendship, a complete trust that lasted 25 years, until the artist's death. The couple took the actor under their wing. Jo helped him better master his art by teaching him how to throw. This is also the origin of a joke: when people asked him why he wasn't acting anymore (in films), he would reply: "I've never acted so much in my life!" Spending hours at his wheel, guided by Jo, he discovered new techniques. From pottery, he moved on to modeling, and from modeling to sculpture, it was only a small step. In 1975, he opened his first gallery in Vallauris with the help of Jo and his wife Nini. "I am a craftsman, not an artist. Art attracts me, fascinates me. I like to get close to it, I respect the artist, I love him, I would like to be like him. But I value art too highly to consider myself an artist," he told Gilles Durieux, author of a biography of the actor. To someone who admired his painting skills too much and called him a master, he replied: "Master, no. Six foot four, okay," because, he said, "I never considered myself an artist. Just a craftsman, and above all, an old kid having fun."
In 1976, he also opened a second gallery in Paris, where he sold his pottery and paintings, at 91 rue Saint-Honoré, under the name Jean Marais, potter.

Ref: UKRVR31SMA