George Hoentschel

Jason Jacques Gallery is pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition titled Georges Hoentschel: Stoneware Love Affair, devoted to the ceramics of Georges Hoentschel and other artist-potters associated with Jean Carriès. The exhibition will open from April 5th through April 25th, 2013 at the gallery located at 29 East 73rd Street, NYC. Hoentschel is best remembered as an interior designer and antiques dealer, whose prestigious clients included Robert de Montesquiou, Edmond de Goncourt, and J. Pierpont Morgan. Morgan’s collection of medieval and 18th-century furnishings, acquired from Hoentschel, was donated by the financier to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, forming the basis of its decorative arts department. These holdings will be the subject of a groundbreaking exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center in June 2013. Jason Jacques Gallery is pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition titled Georges Hoentschel: Stoneware Love Affair, devoted to the ceramics of Georges Hoentschel and other artist-potters associated with Jean Carriès. The exhibition will open from April 5th through April 25th, 2013 at the gallery located at 29 East 73rd Street, NYC. Hoentschel is best remembered as an interior designer and antiques dealer, whose prestigious clients included Robert de Montesquiou, Edmond de Goncourt, and J. Pierpont Morgan. Morgan’s collection of medieval and 18th-century furnishings, acquired from Hoentschel, was donated by the financier to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, forming the basis of its decorative arts department. These holdings will be the subject of a groundbreaking exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center in June 2013.

Less is generally known about Hoentschel’s friendship and professional relationship with Jean Carriès, the immensely influential sculptor and ceramist based in Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye. After achieving success as a sculptor, Carriès turned his attention to stoneware, inspired by Japanese examples he’d seen at the 1878 Paris Universal Exposition.

Referring to this humble clay as “the male [version] of porcelain,” Carriès pioneered its use as a material for art pottery, inspiring generations of French ceramists to follow his example. Yet none of Carries’ contemporaries championed his ceramics as passionately as Georges Hoentschel, who not only collected his work but also eventually trained with him. After Carriès’ death in 1894, Hoentschel purchased his workshop and maintained production there. It is unclear whether the ceramics bearing Hoentschel’s monogram were designed or executed by him, but what is certain is that Hoentschel extended the legacy of his great friend and mentor, Jean Carriès.

Scheduled to coincide with the Bard Graduate Center exhibition, Georges Hoentschel: Stoneware, a Love Affair will showcase ceramics attributed to Hoentschel, as well as those by Saint-Amand potters such as Paul Jeanneney, Emile Grittel, Nils De Barck, Eugène Lion, Théo Perrot, and others. A highlight of the exhibition will be a rare and outstanding portrait bust of poetess Loyse Labé, a masterpiece of polychrome stoneware sculpture by Jean Carriès. Jason Jacques Gallery’s timely exhibition will complement and expand upon the Bard Graduate Center’s examination of Georges Hoentschel’s impact on French decorative arts. It is not to be missed by anyone interested in ceramics, French decorative arts, and their ongoing influence here in the United States.

If you would like any further infomration please email info@jasonjacques.com.