165 - Guidette CARBONELL (1910–2008)

Guidette CARBONELL (1910–2008) Rare white glazed ceramic lamp base Signed with the artist’s initials, “G.C.” Designed around 1947 H: 69 cm Bibliography: -“Le décor d’aujourd’hui,” 1947, No. 38, similar model reproduced on p. 22 -Frédéric Bodet and Karine Lacquement, *Guidette Carbonell: Ceramics and Tapestries*, Norma Editions, Paris, 2007; a similar piece is reproduced on page 56 Note: The motif on this lamp is reminiscent of Alberto Giacometti’s 1930s plaster lamp “Deux Mains.” Indeed, it appears that both artists drew on shared sources of inspiration. Guidette Carbonell occupies a unique place in the history of 20th-century ceramics. At a time when this medium was still often considered a secondary art form, she helped elevate it to true artistic status. Initially trained in painting, she turned to ceramics, which she embraced as a field for artistic experimentation, freely exploring the relationships between form, color, and material. Her career is closely linked to that of the artists of the School of Paris, notably Alfred Manessier, Roger Bissière, Jean Bazaine, and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. Through her contact with these abstract painters, her artistic language evolved toward a gradual simplification of forms and a search for the essential, in which stylization became a structuring principle.