THE CLOUTIER BROTHERS - JEAN & ROBERT CLOUTIER (1930-2015) & (1930-2008) - FORMER PATRICK FAVARDIN COLLECTION The Baby Very large, hollow, circular hanging bowl with title decoration in the round. Black glazed ceramic proof. Diameter: 31cm - Depth: 12cm Provenance: Former - Former Patrick Favardin Collection. - Galerie Riviera, Nice. Bibliography: Patrick Favardin - Les frères Cloutier Céramistes et sculpteurs - Éditions Norma, Paris, 2014. A large decorative panel presented at the Floralies de Vincennes in 1971, of which our work is most probably a preparatory study, is reproduced on page 115. Twins Jean and Robert Cloutier produced a prolific and varied output of original ceramics, ranging from utilitarian and decorative objects to interior architecture. Their work, apparently naïve and constantly reinventing itself, in fact conceals a certain poetry, freedom and creative continuity. Trained by Georges Jouve (1910-1964) and Pol Chambost (1906-1983), they opened their own studio in 1955. Combining their technical mastery with their boundless imagination, they developed a singular visual universe which, while evoking the work of Jouve, Marie Vassilieff (1884-1957) and Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), quickly asserted itself as unique and personal. Their great creative freedom, combined with the technical know-how they had acquired from the great ceramists of their time, resulted in high-quality works with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic or hybrid decoration or form - most often treated in monochrome or bichrome, with characteristic red-glazed interiors - that met with great success. True explorers and incomparable creators, the Cloutier brothers were key players in the post-war revival of ceramics.