20th Century Signed Jean Marais Pewter Finished Terracotta Vase of Two Nudes

Jean Marais (French 1913-1998), a black lustre glazed terracotta vase of nudes holding draped scarves, c.1960, signed ‘Jean Marais’.

Vase Dimensions:
12″h x 12″w
Base 6.5″w
Mouth of Vase 7.5″w

Condition:
Good. Very small loss on female figure and small area of damage (possible a firing imperfection) on lip of vase. See photographs.

Jean Marais (1913-1998) was a French actor who began his career as the protege of surrealist artist Jean Cocteau and became a pillar of the French cinema. Justly famous for his cinematic career and for his creative and personal partnership with Jean Cocteau (the two remained together from 1937 until Cocteau’s death in 1963) far less is known about his extraordinarily varied life as an artist. As Marais himself remarked in 1992, “I discovered painting when I was 10, design when I was 50, pottery when I was 73.”

Marais was born Dec. 11, 1913, in Cherbourg. Twice rejected from France’s top drama schools after dropping out of school at 16, Marais went on to make 75 films and become one of the nation’s most popular movie stars–thanks to Cocteau.

The two met in 1937 when Marais was working as an apprentice photographer. Marais’ good looks and strong personality appealed to Cocteau, and the two became inseparable lovers until Cocteau’s death in 1963. The relationship fired Cocteau’s imagination, inspiring plays, films, poems and drawings. Marais was best known for his role as the beast in Cocteau’s 1946 classic, “The Beauty and the Beast.” In his later years, working from his home on the Riviera, he was said to be proudest of his work as a painter and sculptor.