Recent from talks
Alexandre Bigot
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Alexandre Bigot
Alexandre Bigot (5 November 1862 – 27 April 1927) was a French ceramicist. He was primarily a ceramics manufacturer, producing the designs of many artists and architects of the French-Belgian Art Nouveau movement, including: Jules Lavirotte, Hector Guimard, Louis Majorelle, Henri Sauvage, Henry van de Velde, Auguste Perret, Andre Arfvidson, Anatole de Baudot and more.
Bigot was a physics and chemistry instructor who became interested in ceramics in 1889 after viewing Chinese porcelain at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. With his knowledge of chemistry, Bigot was able to create glazes with a large variety of colors and finishes.
Bigot's firm was based at Rue des Petites Ecuries, Paris and he also created a ceramics factory in Mer in 1889 which employed as many as 150 people. Siegfried Bing, a German art dealer in Paris, displayed works by Bigot, among others, and was responsible for introducing the Art Nouveau style. Bigot’s Parisian firm closed in 1914 due to a decline in the popularity of Art Nouveau.
Alexandre Bigot was trained in the sciences before eventually excelling in the arts. He obtained a degree in physics in 1884. He also held a doctorate in chemistry and was interested very early on in creating enamels resembling natural gems. After a brief stint in the studio of Paul Beyer (1873–1945) in Switzerland, and recognizing the limits imposed on setting up a laboratory in Paris, in 1889, Bigot set up his first kiln in Aunay, his hometown (today called Aulnay, now a district within the city limits of Mer). The same year, he became one of many artists of his generation who were attracted to the eastern ceramic wares that they saw at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris. Among Bigot's contemporaries who found inspiration in Asian ceramics was Jean-Joseph Carriès, who, like Bigot, had his own studio and was engaged in research on ceramics, knowledge that he began to refine upon meeting Bigot. The two artists began a correspondence on the subject, and Bigot became extremely interested in Carriès' work. Bigot's knowledge of chemistry allowed him to become an adviser to Ernest Chaplet for his sculpture and Carriès as well as a collaborator with the chemist Henry Le Chatelier. On the practical side (turning and modeling), he benefitted from the advice of Raphaël Tessier (1860–1937).
In 1894, Bigot presented his pieces for the first time at the Salon of the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts. The ceramics used a simple form ornamented with matte enamel using shades of yellow, green, and brown, often with the effect of crystallization. In 1895, he participated in the inaugural exposition of Siegfried Bing's La Maison de l'Art Nouveau, which gave its name to the style.
The year 1897 marked a turning point. Architectural ceramics were reaching the pinnacle of their popularity and Bigot took the opportunity to found his own company, A. Bigot et Cie. This enterprise, which employed up to 150 workers and counted 10 industrial kilns, produced numerous trinkets, vases and vessels which were on display in his shop, which he transferred in Paris from the rue d'Assas to the rue des Petites-Écuries.
Along with Emile Muller, Bigot thus became the principal figure in architectural ceramics in France, and from 1898 he worked to integrate ceramics with façades of reinforced concrete. This architectural outlet explains, by implication, the membership of his company in the Union Syndicale des architectes, but also the relaxation of the urban regulations of 1882 which favored the appearance of projecting elements, such as oriel bays, that broke up the uniformity of façades.
The collaboration with Hector Guimard at the end of the decade marked the beginning of Bigot's fame with architectural ceramics. Before then his work had been confined essentially to baths and restaurants. But in 1898, Guimard's Castel Beranger emerged as the manifesto of Art Nouveau in architecture and its ceramics were commissioned from Bigot, who decorated the façade with picturesque details and covered the entrance breezeway with highly plastic molded panels designed to evoke the atmosphere of a grotto. The material became thus emblematic of the new style before Art Nouveau's decline about 1910.
Hub AI
Alexandre Bigot AI simulator
(@Alexandre Bigot_simulator)
Alexandre Bigot
Alexandre Bigot (5 November 1862 – 27 April 1927) was a French ceramicist. He was primarily a ceramics manufacturer, producing the designs of many artists and architects of the French-Belgian Art Nouveau movement, including: Jules Lavirotte, Hector Guimard, Louis Majorelle, Henri Sauvage, Henry van de Velde, Auguste Perret, Andre Arfvidson, Anatole de Baudot and more.
Bigot was a physics and chemistry instructor who became interested in ceramics in 1889 after viewing Chinese porcelain at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. With his knowledge of chemistry, Bigot was able to create glazes with a large variety of colors and finishes.
Bigot's firm was based at Rue des Petites Ecuries, Paris and he also created a ceramics factory in Mer in 1889 which employed as many as 150 people. Siegfried Bing, a German art dealer in Paris, displayed works by Bigot, among others, and was responsible for introducing the Art Nouveau style. Bigot’s Parisian firm closed in 1914 due to a decline in the popularity of Art Nouveau.
Alexandre Bigot was trained in the sciences before eventually excelling in the arts. He obtained a degree in physics in 1884. He also held a doctorate in chemistry and was interested very early on in creating enamels resembling natural gems. After a brief stint in the studio of Paul Beyer (1873–1945) in Switzerland, and recognizing the limits imposed on setting up a laboratory in Paris, in 1889, Bigot set up his first kiln in Aunay, his hometown (today called Aulnay, now a district within the city limits of Mer). The same year, he became one of many artists of his generation who were attracted to the eastern ceramic wares that they saw at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris. Among Bigot's contemporaries who found inspiration in Asian ceramics was Jean-Joseph Carriès, who, like Bigot, had his own studio and was engaged in research on ceramics, knowledge that he began to refine upon meeting Bigot. The two artists began a correspondence on the subject, and Bigot became extremely interested in Carriès' work. Bigot's knowledge of chemistry allowed him to become an adviser to Ernest Chaplet for his sculpture and Carriès as well as a collaborator with the chemist Henry Le Chatelier. On the practical side (turning and modeling), he benefitted from the advice of Raphaël Tessier (1860–1937).
In 1894, Bigot presented his pieces for the first time at the Salon of the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts. The ceramics used a simple form ornamented with matte enamel using shades of yellow, green, and brown, often with the effect of crystallization. In 1895, he participated in the inaugural exposition of Siegfried Bing's La Maison de l'Art Nouveau, which gave its name to the style.
The year 1897 marked a turning point. Architectural ceramics were reaching the pinnacle of their popularity and Bigot took the opportunity to found his own company, A. Bigot et Cie. This enterprise, which employed up to 150 workers and counted 10 industrial kilns, produced numerous trinkets, vases and vessels which were on display in his shop, which he transferred in Paris from the rue d'Assas to the rue des Petites-Écuries.
Along with Emile Muller, Bigot thus became the principal figure in architectural ceramics in France, and from 1898 he worked to integrate ceramics with façades of reinforced concrete. This architectural outlet explains, by implication, the membership of his company in the Union Syndicale des architectes, but also the relaxation of the urban regulations of 1882 which favored the appearance of projecting elements, such as oriel bays, that broke up the uniformity of façades.
The collaboration with Hector Guimard at the end of the decade marked the beginning of Bigot's fame with architectural ceramics. Before then his work had been confined essentially to baths and restaurants. But in 1898, Guimard's Castel Beranger emerged as the manifesto of Art Nouveau in architecture and its ceramics were commissioned from Bigot, who decorated the façade with picturesque details and covered the entrance breezeway with highly plastic molded panels designed to evoke the atmosphere of a grotto. The material became thus emblematic of the new style before Art Nouveau's decline about 1910.
Recent media