Roger Capron

Roger Capron, born in Vincennes in 1922, was an artist with multiple talents: a ceramist, painter, and sculptor.

From a young age, he showed interest in art, initially dedicating himself to drawing. He was a student at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris (now École Duperré) from 1938 to 1943. The discovery of ceramics gradually led him to abandon drawing to fully embrace this new medium.

As a result, in 1946, he settled in Vallauris, in the Alpes-Maritimes, where he opened his first ceramics workshop. In 1948, he teamed up with ceramists Robert Picault and Jean Derval at the Callis workshop, contributing to the revitalization of the art of ceramics in Vallauris. Roger Capron strived to realize what taught him his mentor, designer René Gabriel: “To make beauty accessible to all.”

In 1952, he acquired a pottery in Vallauris, initially employing seven workers to produce decorative panels and objects for local shops. The following year, he began manufacturing earthenware tiles and tables. It was also in 1955 that he married Jacqueline Hubin, a.k.a. “Jacotte,” who became his collaborator and supporter throughout his entire career.

Roger Capron quickly achieved success: he received a gold medal at the 10th Triennale in Milan in 1954, a silver medal at the International Exhibition in Cannes in 1955, and a gold medal in Brussels in 1959. In 1970, he was even honored with the “Grand Prix International de la Céramique”. During this time, he collaborated with various artists, ceramists, painters, and architects, including Jean-Michel Carré and Philippe Sicardon, for the ceramic decoration project of the Byblos hotel in Saint-Tropez.

However, starting in 1980, the artist went through a difficult period. Although his workshop employed nearly 120 workers, the economic crisis forced him to declare bankruptcy. Capron was compelled to sell his designs, patents, and manufacturing processes to  Etablissements Carré in Paris.

Despite these challenges, Rogsder Capron continued to create in his Vallauris workshop. In the 1990s, he explored a new artistic direction by focusing on unique pieces that resembled sculpture, after primarily producing mass-produced items. With the help of his wife and Jean-Paul Bonnet, he opened a new workshop for fired pieces. In the 2000s, he also dedicated himself to three-dimensional sculpture, and his work continued to be celebrated internationally, with exhibitions in renowned galleries such as Neotu in Paris and Hammer in New York. In 2003, the National Museum of Ceramics in Sèvres held a retrospective exhibition titled “Les Capron” in his honor.