Large Stoneware Orangeade Pitcher by Alexandre Kostanda for Vallauris, 1950s

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Born in Poland in 1921, Alexandre Kostanda settled with his parents in Vallauris in 1929 and began an apprenticeship with … Read more Born in Poland in 1921, Alexandre Kostanda settled with his parents in Vallauris in 1929 and began an apprenticeship with Louis Giraud in 1936 before founding his own workshop in 1953.

He mixes Vallauris clay with Cluny stoneware and fires his pieces in a wood-fired kiln—a process that dictates a muted color palette, from beige to gray, dark blue and green, russet, and brown. His geometric abstract designs are reminiscent of a painter like Atlan.

This orangeade pitcher is a direct example: a flared, truncated conical body, a pinched spout, and a brown-black band handle. The surface is divided into two registers by a horizontal border—the lower body in plain, dark stoneware, the upper body decorated with a composition of polychrome rectangles (ochre, blue, green, brown) crossed by vertical lines brushed in black, evoking Klee's collages or Mondrian's grids transposed into raw material.

His ceramics, rustic in appearance, surprise with the finesse of their execution and the balance of their proportions, revealing an uncommon technical mastery. Among the generation of Vallauris ceramists, Kostanda distinguishes himself from Roger Capron or Gilbert Portanier by his rejection of bright colors in favor of an earthy palette, closer to that of Jean Derval or François Lembo.

Signed "A. Kostanda / Vallauris" engraved under the base. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
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