Lilette and Gilbert Valentin – When the earth becomes light

LILETTE AND GILBERT VALENTIN, ARCHANGES: 50 YEARS
Potters, ceramists, sculptors and painters, Lilette (1925-2006) and Gilbert Valentin (1928-2000) participated in the artistic development known by Vallauris after the Liberation.
Born in Lorraine, Gilbert Valentin grew up in the cultural radiance of the École de Nancy. His father, a ferronnier of art, was introduced to the work of iron. From 1946 to 1948, he formed successively at Dieulefit, Montpellier and Vierzon, acquiring a complete mastery of ceramic techniques — filming, enamelling, cooking in wood or electric oven, chemistry and construction of ovens. It is to Godlefit that he meets Lilette Duport, graduate of the Beaux-Arts industriels de Grenoble. In 1949, then in training at the Lunéville Faiencerie, he was offered a post of assistant to the director, which he declined to remain free. Together with the same passion and thirst for freedom, they each continue their training before moving to Vallauris in an old factory they baptize "Les Archanges". This place quickly becomes a space of art and life where their five children grow and where poets, musicians and writers gather, including Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso and Jacques Prévert.
Throughout their journey, the Valentins explore and renew their practice: first focused on the pottery, their work opens to sculpture, painting and drawing, before returning to ceramics in the form of poetic and symbolic paintings.
For nearly fifty years, Lilette and Gilbert Valentin exhibited in France and abroad. They made their gallery a place of exchange and creation, today rediscovered on the occasion of this exhibition.