JACQUES POUCHAIN (1927-2015) - DIEULEFIT WORKSHOP Face Anthropomorphic lamp base. Black enameled stoneware proof. Signed with the monogram stamp J.P. circulaire and the Atelier Dieulefit stamp in the recess near the wire feed. Height: 38cm Born in Paris, Jacques Pouchain trained as an architect, but gave up when he discovered his vocation for abstract art. In the late 1940s, he moved from Paris to the Drôme, where he later opened his own ceramics workshop in Dieulefit. His work, composed of both utilitarian and artistic pieces, bears witness to a certain modernity and is distinguished by engraved decorations and brown and black glazes. The subjects of his artist's ceramics are drawn from the natural and animal world, with a marked taste for more familiar animals, such as horses, owls, sheep, hens and peacocks, among others. In the 1960s, he turned to ceramics with abstract decorations and architectural volumes, then, in the 1970s, his research focused on themes linked to fertility and femininity, with a more figurative approach. Her output thus expanded to include works with almost "surreal" volumes and shapes, which elegantly distort her repertoire of animal and human representations. With soft, uncluttered lines, he creates ceramics whose strong visual presence is matched by the purity of their modelling. Although he pursued his painting activities in parallel, it was his ceramics production that earned him international renown and participation in numerous Salons, Biennales and exhibitions, both in France and abroad.