Les artistes de Vallauris

The 1950s marked a definitive break with traditional production, which was losing ground to a booming artistic sector. Even before the arrival of Pablo Picasso, Vallauris had welcomed new would-be potters from other horizons. According to their own testimonies, they lived apart from the potters, who didn’t take kindly to their way of life. These artists were Roger Capron, Jean Derval and Robert Picault, all graduates of the Ecole d’arts appliqués in Paris. The presence of Picasso was to amplify this movement considerably. The painter’s popularity attracted a host of curious onlookers and amateurs, and Vallauris, in full effervescence, enjoyed a worldwide audience, attracting other artists such as Gilbert Portanier and Roger Collet.