Grès coloquint bottle by André Metthey
André Metthey was born in 1871 near Dijon, where he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1887, the family moved to Paris, where the young Methhey enrolled in evening classes at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs. During this time he met the sculptor Albert Marque, with whom he lived for a few months.
After a competition, he obtained Edouard Garnier's book on ceramics, which gave him the vocation of ceramist.
He made many unsuccessful and inconclusive attempts during many years. At the same time, he was employed as a sculptor on various sites such as the Monument to the Girondins for the Esplanade des Quinconces in Bordeaux.
In 1901, the year of his marriage (with Louis Dejean and Albert Marque as witnesses), he moved to Asnières-sur-Seine and never left the city. He met the painter Maiximilien Luce who encouraged him to exhibit at the Salon of Independent Artists where he had his first success.
The following year, he exhibited at the Salon de la Libre Esthétique in Brussels, then at the Salon d'Automne and at the Exposition Universelle de Saint-Louis in 1904.
He met the famous merchant Ambroise Vollard; many artists followed him in the ceramist's studio such as Pierre Bonnard, Odilon Redon, Maillol, Valtat, Vlaminck, Matisse.
In 1909, his first solo exhibition was held at the Palais Galliera and the Druet Gallery. These exhibitions contributed to the consecration of the artist by the public.
In 1910, his studio was ravaged by the flood of the Seine, and the recovery was paralyzed by the First World War.
André Metthey died in 1920 as a result of tuberculosis, a disease that followed him all his life.
The bottle coloquinte was presented at the Salon des artistes indépendants in 1903 among other stoneware pieces reminiscent of the creations of the Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye school; the artist was sometimes compared to Jean Carriès.
