Museum Bernard Palissy, Saint Avit

With this third blog about Museum Bernard Palissy I conclude my French ceramics triptych of the past few weeks. It was Palissy who lured us to southern France this year. A fitting ending to finish at his birthplace, Saint Avit…

More than 500 years after his birth, the myth of Palissy lives on. One of the first ceramists to stil known by name with his own “rustic” style. A style that has had counterfeiters, imitator and followers to the present day.

A renaissance ceramist, scientist, writer and martyr. Died in captivity, glaze secrets taken into his grave. Loved by the French ceramics connoisseurs. His myth, even outside France, still appeals to the imagination.

Palissy the mystery

Although publications about Palissy appear to this day, the facts and myth are difficult to distinguish. Despite (or perhaps thanks to) his own writings, his life story has been adapted, changed and sometimes romanticized over the centuries.I first got to know his work and that of his followers in the Museum “Sèvres – Cité de la céramique” and at the exhibition Ceramix a few years ago. But his work is also to be found in the Louvre and other museums (including the Musée National Adrien Dubouché in Limoges, see Previous blog). I had read much earlier about his reputation as a possessed glaze developer. A fascinating artist, of which I wanted to know more.

But the facts about Palissy are scarce and controversial. Nowadays it is assumed that he was born in 1509 or 1510. But his contemporaries call 1499 or 1520 the year in which he would have been born. Where he grew up, his travels, how he made his ceramics and glazes as a ceramist are still not entirely clear. He has never written it down precisely in his published books either. Did he have special reasons for that?

Palissy’s life, his working methods and his glazes are therefore still a mystery. And where can you best start to unravel secrets? Indeed at the beginning, to be precise in Saint-Avit-sur-Lède, the supposed birthplace of Bernard Palissy.

So that was the purpose of our trip this year (and the fact that museum Bernard Palissy is located there 🙂 ).

Saint Avit, Lacapelle Biron

The birthplace of Palissy, as well as his year of birth, is shrouded in mists. He has never given a definite answer. Agenais, in the south of France, is the region that he himself declared as his birthplace.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Jean-Florimond Boudon found indications Palissy was born in the historic village of Saint-Avit, nowadays part of Lacapelle Biron. Whether this is really his birthplace is now being questioned, but the village is at least in the area where he grew up.

Anyway, Jean-Florimond could not have chosen a better place as a sanctuary for modern ceramists. Saint-Avit still breathes the atmosphere of the Middle Ages. Walk through the village and the church, founded in the mid-13th century, and imagine yourself in the time of Palissy.

Museum Bernard Palissy

Saint-Avit is also the place where the Museum Bernard Palissy (Musée Bernard Palissy) is located. It’s housed in a historic building, diagonally opposite the church. The collection of Palissy and followers is modest, but interesting. In addition various photos with an extensive description there is also a film about the life of Palissy (in French), which is worth watching.

However, the majority of the museum is reserved for changing exhibits of contemporary ceramists. A great location to meet ceramics history and the current generation of ceramists.

To see more of Palissy ‘s work you better go to the Louvre in Paris or Sèvres. But to feel the ceramics history in your bones, Museum Bernard Palissy in Saint-Avit is the place to visit.

Contemporary French ceramics

Okay we haven’t been able to clarify all Palissy secrets, but Saint Avit is an inspiring place for ceramists and ceramics enthusiasts. The Museum Bernard Palissy is also an attractive exhibition space. Not only for historical, but also for contemporary ceramics.We visited the museum during the exposition “De(ux) Main(s) La Terre“. Several contemporary French ceramists gave their modern view of the medium clay. Palissy was an innovative ceramist in the 16th century. I therefore find it very fitting that the museum with its name carries a warm heart for renewal in the 21st century.