Creators

Ceramicist and furniture creator.

After studying at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris, Robert Lallemant did his apprenticeship between 1921 and 1922 in the ceramics factory directed by Raoul Lachenal, in Boulogne-Billancourt, where he was introduced to the technique of slip-casting into moulds, rather than the more traditional technique of the potter’s wheel. With the help of his father, he acquired a small factory making Bleu de Sèvres in Paris and started to experiment with his first ceramic items. He exhibited regularly at the trade show of the Société́ des Artistes Décorateurs. He joined the UAM from its foundation and, at the group’s first exhibition, presented some simple and refined furniture items in wood and metal for Le Coin de repos d’un navigateur. But ceramics remained his preferred field which he wished to see progress towards a distinct modernity. At the start of the 1930s, he endeavoured to produce mechanically a series of sculptures, lampstands and vases in geometric shapes or of cubist inspiration. The design of pieces was transferred to and indexed on shaped planks; a plaster mould requiring precise finishing would be created. Each item was thus slip-cast, cured and decorated, then signed by the creator. Certain decors were overtly traditional like those of the Rugby players or Popular songs series. In the modern building where he established himself at quai d’Auteuil, his pieces were exhibited among the creations of U.A.M. members. He quickly encountered international success. He became artistic consultant to the Manufacture de Sèvres during the Second World War and then ceased all creative activity to devote himself to the Montcocol family business in public works.

He succumbed to a heart attack in Davos in 1954.