Today's Etsy Treasure: Cocteau vases

 

Today's Etsy Treasure is not an antique per se but what I consider as an antique of the future . These two exquisite vases are available for $275.00 on Mascarajones's Etsy shop, here.

This set of vases by Jean Cocteau are incredibly stylish works of art. I am convinced that Cocteau's art is still undervalued and it is worth investing in it before it gets too expensive (which I am sure, will happen soon). Mid-century designs are doing incredibly well at the moment - in particular on Etsy- and these vases have such clean lines that they could fit in any interior.

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was a French all-round artist, famous for his poems, plays, designs, movies and art. His movie Beauty and the Beast (1946) is probably his most famous work (being French myself, I must say that I have seen it broadcast on French tv many, many times). This movie is a beautiful black and white adaptation of the well-known fairytale. Cocteau used new movie technology of the time to create a fantastic feeling of magic and surrealism. Even when I see it today, I can't help but feel transported by its lyrical quality. 

Beauty and the Beast (1946), Jean Cocteau.

 As an artist, Cocteau was close to the avant-garde movement before and after the WWI and knew  Modigliani, Picasso and Diaghilev, Coco Chanel, writers Proust and Gide, and composers Stravinsky, Satie and Poulenc. Even though he is often classified as a Surrealist, he denied having anything to do with the group of Surrealists including Salvador Dalí and André Breton.

Cocteau was deeply inspired by Greek mythology and many of his artworks include illustrations of famous myths. His theory was that commonplace objects were containers of hidden beauty, which the artist, through his gifts and eye, could bring out.

Profil aux Points. Dot Profile. Jean Cocteau, 1950.

 
Some of Cocteau's works will be exhibited alongside Picasso and Chagall paintings in the Lightbox gallery in Woking this week (read more about it on The Guardian website ). Also, a new museum dedicated to Jean Cocteau only just opened in Menton, France: the Jean Cocteau Museum.

The blind poet believes that he is the emperor of China, Jean Cocteau with birds, 1949.