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Friday, September 2, 2011

Giovanni de Simone


Update (3/22/2012): I received a comment below, identified as having come from Giovanni de Simone's widow Eliana. According to the comment and the website to which it referred me, de Simone was never a student of Picasso. At the time of his death, his factory employed 100 workers, and it closed in 1992, a year after his death. I have emailed Susanna de Simone in an attempt to verify this information.

Update (3/23/2012): I received verification from the studio of Susanna de Simone and wrote an updated post which was published on 3/24/2012.


Giovanni de Simone (1930-1991), a member of the Italian aristocracy, was a friend and student of Pablo Picasso. He opened a studio in Palermo, Italy, after World War II and became very popular during the 1950s and 1960s. His pottery designs were very similar to Picasso's, but his color palette was much more vivid.

His pottery factory usually employed four to six decorators, but they did not sign their work. However, Giovanni de Simone very often signed his own work in a prominent place where it could be seen without turning the piece over. Although his daughters Rosita and Susanna were also decorators, it is thought that they did not sign their work as long as their father was actively involved in the factory. A third daughter, Margherita, ran the office. Giovanni de Simone retired in 1981.

The factory continued operation for about 15 years after his death. Some speculate that it went out of business because of the U.S. ban on importation of its products as a result of the Food and Drug Administration's allegation that it contained lead and cadmium. The company fought the ban for years but were never successful in having it lifted. Many of their shipments were confiscated at the dock.

Experts predict that de Simone pottery, which has always been collectible, will soar in price over the coming years. Susanna de Simone still makes and sells ceramic items in the style she learned from her father. She signs her work "S. DE SIMONE."

From italianpotterymarks.freeforums.org, forum.treasurenet.com and sllab.net





Vase
trocadero.com
Bottles and vases
dualmodern.com

Vase
nyshowplace.com

Bottles
originalinberlin.com
Bottle and vase
liveauctioneers.com

Bottle
skinnerinc.com
Square plate
italianpottery.com



Square plate
italianpottery.com
Square plate
italianpottery.com



Plate by daughter Susanna de Simone
villagioceramics.com

12 comments:

  1. They are fantastic! I'll have to go to the links and check them out more. I'll bet they are pricey. I sure do love them. Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kinda wacky! But also really interesting. I feel like I have seen some similar pieces yard sale-ing . . . Oops.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning,
    they are a lot of inaccuracies in the initial text there. Giovanni de Simone has never been student of Picasso. Giovanni de Simone has not closed his factory in 1981 but only one year after his death (1992). It had more than 100 employees. Nobody has ever known how to create proper sketches therefore nobody could sign the sketches created by Giovanni de Simone and from his daughters. The exact news on the life of Giovanni de Simone can be seen on http://giovannidesimone.blogspot.it/ .
    Sorry for my English
    his wife
    Eliana de Simone
    eliana_desimone@libero.it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hallo
      existieren noch bilder mappen habe nähmlich welche und würde die gerne verkaufen ist wohl ne gesonderte ausgabe
      mfg

      Delete
    2. Unfortunately the blog is in written only in Italian

      Delete
  4. Dana,

    Do you intend to clean off the "inaccuracies" from this blog? You take the chance of e-Bayer sellers coping this for their descriptions which propagates the internet rumors that someone started. What site did you copy this inaccurate information from?

    v/r Vincent

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As cited, my sources were: italianpotterymarks.freeforums.org, forum.treasurenet.com and sllab.net

      I have moved my update information in this post to a more prominent position and included a link to the corrected post, and I have marked out the inaccuracies. However, I do not plan to delete this post, as I want the comments made by Eliana de Simone and by you to remain as documentation.

      Delete
  5. Vase ebay.com - Seller: modmodmodinc

    Dana, one other thing, this item is not a vase, and may not be a true de Simone pottery from the looks of the signature on the back, I suggest you compare this to others like it.

    V/r Vincent

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I removed the photo in question. Thank you for your input.

      Delete
  6. I have over 100 pieces of de Simone which I have collected over many years. Some are signed in the back "DeSimone. Italy. 64/5, or with a similar number.

    ReplyDelete
  7. hallo kann mir einer helfen habe Bilder ( bzw. ganze mappen )von Giovanni De Simone und brauch eine wertauskunft drüber und
    wer interesse hat
    tel:01725494174

    mfg

    ReplyDelete