The French Ceramicist Gilbert Portanier is dead
Portanier died at the age of 96 in his home in Vallauris. We are happy to have had the opportunity to work with this great artist, who published his monograph with arnolsche in 2009.
His paintings on ceramic recall his encounters with Picasso and Gilbert Portanier’s lifelong need to make color resonate beyond form. The large, optimistic paintings are the reflection of a man whose face beamed and whose eyes sparkled when he spoke about his art: “All my pieces I look at with love, because I loved all this creation. It proves to me that I could never have survived and flourished anywhere else but in the world I chose. I have never doubted. I do not seek, I find. When I stand in front of my easel, inspiration comes naturally. It’s like breathing.”
— From the obituary by Philippe Depetris, Nice-Matin, read in its entirety in French here.
