DOI Heft:
No. 56 (November, 1897)
DOI Artikel:Mourey, Gabriel: The potter's art: with especial reference to the work of Auguste Delaherche
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18390#0145
Atiguste Delaherche
GLAZED AND DECORATED POTTERY DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY AUGUSTE DELAHERCHE
oven is heated there are fresh lessons to be learnt
by the attentive observer. The danger lies in
letting oneself be fascinated by these surprises, and
thinking they will suffice of themselves to give this
or that piece of work the ornamentation desired.
But to be satisfied with results obtained in this
haphazard way is to bring this admirable art down
to the lowest level. Some of the pieces," continued
M. Delaherche, " which I have broken up, as being
unworthy of holding a place among my produc-
tions and of bearing my signature, were really
remarkable : the action of the fire had taken all
sorts of rich and fanciful colourings, and I had
often to resist the importunities of collectors who
were enthusiastic over the effects produced. But
that's not art.
" The remark of pcre Ingres still applies with as
much force to the potter as to the painter or to the
sculptor : 1 Even if you have a hundred thousand
francs' worth of ability, buy two sous' worth more !'
For art consists in achieving as nearly as may be
the effects one has conceived and hoped for, by
dint of slow and scrupulous study and observation,
ever-increasing experience, and deeper and deeper
penetration into Nature's mysteries.
" It is indeed an exciting moment when the
work is taken from the oven. You have pictured,
for instance, a splendid combination of colours for
your amphora ; you wished the coulee of the glazing
on your vase to stop at two-thirds of its height; or
on another piece you wanted to see a coating of
rich enamel. But in one case it has all gone black ;
in another the drops have flowed too low ; in a
third the bottom has blistered, and is all over dull
pustules; or all the materials have run into one
another in the fusion ; all is incoherence and dis-
order ; the vitrified matter has distributed itself
badly, and the earthenware reappears in patches !
" But, on the other hand, how boundless the
domain of the process ! What miracles these twelve
hundred degrees of heat can perform ! And what
joy, what triumph, when one succeeds in bringing
to perfection a beautiful piece of pottery, complete
and satisfactory in its smallest details as in its
entirety ! I can assure you one's trouble is fully
repaid, for the tints of the finest colourists can
never equal the splendour, the brilliant variety,
the deep, rich sumptuousness of some of these
enamels."
No one who loves and appreciates the art of
pottery will consider M. Delaherche guilty of
exaggeration or professional vanity in thus pro-
claiming aloud the virtues of his art.
As a decorator Delaherche has the rare merit
of extreme sobriety and simplicity of style. A
leaf of thistle or clover, a wild-rose blossom, or a
few peacock's feathers arranged in a wreath or en
arabesque in two parallel rows around the neck or
117
GLAZED AND DECORATED POTTERY DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY AUGUSTE DELAHERCHE
oven is heated there are fresh lessons to be learnt
by the attentive observer. The danger lies in
letting oneself be fascinated by these surprises, and
thinking they will suffice of themselves to give this
or that piece of work the ornamentation desired.
But to be satisfied with results obtained in this
haphazard way is to bring this admirable art down
to the lowest level. Some of the pieces," continued
M. Delaherche, " which I have broken up, as being
unworthy of holding a place among my produc-
tions and of bearing my signature, were really
remarkable : the action of the fire had taken all
sorts of rich and fanciful colourings, and I had
often to resist the importunities of collectors who
were enthusiastic over the effects produced. But
that's not art.
" The remark of pcre Ingres still applies with as
much force to the potter as to the painter or to the
sculptor : 1 Even if you have a hundred thousand
francs' worth of ability, buy two sous' worth more !'
For art consists in achieving as nearly as may be
the effects one has conceived and hoped for, by
dint of slow and scrupulous study and observation,
ever-increasing experience, and deeper and deeper
penetration into Nature's mysteries.
" It is indeed an exciting moment when the
work is taken from the oven. You have pictured,
for instance, a splendid combination of colours for
your amphora ; you wished the coulee of the glazing
on your vase to stop at two-thirds of its height; or
on another piece you wanted to see a coating of
rich enamel. But in one case it has all gone black ;
in another the drops have flowed too low ; in a
third the bottom has blistered, and is all over dull
pustules; or all the materials have run into one
another in the fusion ; all is incoherence and dis-
order ; the vitrified matter has distributed itself
badly, and the earthenware reappears in patches !
" But, on the other hand, how boundless the
domain of the process ! What miracles these twelve
hundred degrees of heat can perform ! And what
joy, what triumph, when one succeeds in bringing
to perfection a beautiful piece of pottery, complete
and satisfactory in its smallest details as in its
entirety ! I can assure you one's trouble is fully
repaid, for the tints of the finest colourists can
never equal the splendour, the brilliant variety,
the deep, rich sumptuousness of some of these
enamels."
No one who loves and appreciates the art of
pottery will consider M. Delaherche guilty of
exaggeration or professional vanity in thus pro-
claiming aloud the virtues of his art.
As a decorator Delaherche has the rare merit
of extreme sobriety and simplicity of style. A
leaf of thistle or clover, a wild-rose blossom, or a
few peacock's feathers arranged in a wreath or en
arabesque in two parallel rows around the neck or
117