Roger Capron - Roger Capron - Coffee table - Ceramic

Coffee Table, Vallauris ceramic, signed Roger Capron, 1960s – France

Designer: Roger Capron
Materials: Metal and Vallauris ceramic
Period: 1960s
Country of origin: France
Good condition considering age and use
Dimensions: 42 x 80 x 41 cm.

Impressive low table, coffee table, with a rectangular profile, designed and signed by Roger Capron in the 1960s. The metal frame features slim, delicate legs with a semicircular shape stacked on each side. Between them sits a fine metal grid that can serve as a magazine rack or to hold small items. The top is composed of Vallauris ceramic pieces with a geometric pattern that combines various square and rectangular shapes on a black background, playing with colors (pink, green, and yellow). The top view could be likened to a painting for its unique design. Roger Capron was a designer especially renowned for his ceramic works. In fact, he was one of the potters who conquered Vallauris and restored prestige and glamour to this town on the French Riviera.

Roger Capron (Vincennes, France, 1922 – Cannes, France, 2006)

Roger Capron graduated in 1943 from the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In 1952 he founded his own workshop in Vallauris, ‘l’Atelier Callis’, and rubbed shoulders with artists such as Picasso. His work soon gained international recognition. His wife, Jacotte, studied art and became a valuable collaborator for him.

Thanks to his experience in mixing pigments and glazes, Capron’s most famous ceramics feature dazzling colors and whimsical figures. Like Picasso, he experimented with many artistic styles and never clung to a single technique for long.

However, his coffee tables with intricate geometric shapes and vibrant colors are also very notable. These mid-century pieces, with their pleasant palettes and playful arrangements of abstract forms or patterns from the natural world, are at once approachable and sophisticated. They are inspired by Scandinavian modernism and illustrate the Parisian potter’s belief that beautiful objects should be easy to access widely. He aimed to make ceramics popular, within everyone’s reach, and he was one of the few artists who moved from craft to industry without losing an ounce of passion. This obsession led him to decorate many public buildings in southern France, including the Cannes maritime station, for which he created a decorative mural. The Nîmes Theater and the luxurious Byblos hotel in Saint-Tropez also housed his works.

Gres (earthenware) made him obsessed with designing tables and panels with color mosaics and boundless imagination. His coffee tables, side tables, and decorative objects remain among the most enduring and coveted designs of the mid-century modern era.

He was awarded at the Milan Triennale in 1954 and the Grand Prix International de la Céramique in 1970. His works have been exhibited at the National Ceramic Museum and the Magnelli Museum.

About Vallauris ceramics

Vallauris was a pottery center that experienced substantial growth in the mid-19th century with the arrival of the railway. It came to be established as a ceramic hub with the arrival of post-impressionist and modern painters, such as Chagall or Picasso, who sought inspiration in the exotic and the primitive. This era saw the rise of large factories, bringing about true industrial and commercial organization in ceramic production.

Since Gallo-Roman times, Vallauris pottery has stood out thanks to culinary ceramics. Casseroles, pots, and jugs have boosted Vallauris’s international reputation, especially for the material’s resistance to high temperatures. Picasso’s arrival in the 1950s elevated Vallauris to the status of France’s ceramic capital, attracting many artists eager to learn the arts of fire. Vallauris ceramics are top quality both in material and design.

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