PARIS.- Sotheby’s Design sale on 24 May will be an opportunity to pay tribute to the talent of the ceramist Georges Jouve, with 40 works coming from private collections. They retrace the prolific work of an artist born during the dark war years. Alberto and Diego Giacometti are also stars in the catalogue, with 19 lots reflecting all the skill of a duo, who imbued their works with grace and poetry. In the furniture section, the most important items are iconic desks by three major architects: Pierre Chareau, Jean Prouvé and Claude Parent.

Homage to Georges Jouve
"Georges Jouve cast an aristocratic eye on his times, and with his hands kneaded the substance from which creation burst forth." Pierre Bergé

The Sotheby’s Paris catalogue includes some 40 works by Georges Jouve: an exceptional occurrence. These come from private collections.

Georges Jouve studied at several outstanding academies, starting with the Ecole Boulle, moving on to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Académie Jullian. Then war broke out. After spending years as a prisoner in Germany, he managed to escape to France and took refuge in the Drôme region (South-East of France). Driven into forced secrecy away from the vicissitudes of the war, he discovered the enchantment of working with clay and became a ceramist. This was the beginning of a whole life's work. During the 1950’s, he was part of the creative impulse that fired the capital, and began numerous collaborations with leading interior designers of the time. Jouve's aesthetic became more radical, and he developed his own highly visionary and poetic language. His works became streamlined, anthropomorphic, abstract and distinctly Japanese in style

The 40 pieces in the catalogue reflect this prolific work, from his incredibly modern, clean-lined monochrome vases (Black-glazed ceramic, c. 1955, estimate: €4,000-6,000) to his famous two-toned "Owl" pitchers and free-form ceramics in acidic colours (Banana Cup, c. 1955, estimate: €8,00012,000, and Spherical Vase c. 1957, €8,000-12,000). A unique opportunity for amateurs to appreciate the multi-faceted work of a great ceramics master.

Alberto and Diego Giacometti
One of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century died exactly 50 years ago. Alberto Giacometti created an unclassifiable work that relentlessly scrutinised the human figure. With his brother Diego, he also produced objects blurring the limits between art and craftsmanship, influenced by the classic and primitive works he admired. This sale features 19 pieces by the Giacometti brothers, starting with this Oval Cup by Alberto Giacometti c. 1934 (estimate: €60,000-80,000). This white plaster cup was a wedding gift from the artist to Roberto Matta and his wife in 1954. A symbol of their friendship, it has remained in the same collection until now.

Also included is a Hand, again by Alberto Giacometti, estimated between €30,000 and €40,000, a Surrealist object halfway between the world of Cocteau and Andre Breton's novel Nadja, and two patinated bronze Figure or Women's Head lamps, estimated respectively at €120,000-150,000 and €100,000-150,000.

Works by Diego Giacometti include this Cat Butler in patinated bronze (estimate: €30,000-40,000), seemingly straight out of a children's book, and several models of frames and pedestal tables produced between the 1960's and 1980’s, including a Greek table, (estimate: €150,000-200,000), a pair of tables with stags and dogs estimated at €120,000-150,000 each, and an Owl console table (estimate: €70,000-100,000).

Chareau – Prouvé – Parent
Pierre Chareau was one of the most outstanding designers in the Art Deco period. Making interior design his favourite field, he focused on the mobility of space, breaking with symmetry, making play with the movement of volumes and mingling wood with iron. This Desk, which has remained in the same collection for nearly 70 years, appears for the first time on the market, dates from c. 1929 (estimate: €200,000-300,000), and is a perfect illustration of his concepts.

An iconic piece by the designer Jean Prouvé, the Présidence desk is one of the most sought-after models. This model in oak and lacquered sheet steel dating from c. 1950 (estimate: €300,000-400,000) comes from a private collection. Produced with industrial materials, its modernity, practicality and simplicity made it popular with many company directors during the period of economic prosperity known as "Les Trente Glorieuses".

Unconnected with any schools or movements, Claude Parent worked on the sidelines of architectural design. This desk is a speaking example of his style (estimate: €40,000-60,000). A special commission from 1967, its rectangular trunk in solid walnut stands on four dissymmetrical steel feet. With its ingenuity and meticulous quality of execution, this desk of spectacular dimensions and contemporary shapes, sums up the architect's singular concept, which held that " obliqueness should put man in motion’.

The catalogue also includes a wide selection of bronze animal sculptures (Bugatti, Pompon, Sandoz), a rare Damovale desk by EmileJacques Ruhlmann (estimate: €100,000-150,000), and pieces by Jean-Michel Frank, Line Vautrin and Jean Royère. It ends with a selection of more contemporary works by French and European designers including Ettore Sottsass, André Dubreuil, Martin Székély and Franz West, and a number of Italian, Scandinavian and American pieces.