Jean-Paul Gourdon

Born in April 1956, this former potter, due to his modesty and his perpetual dissatisfaction with the work accomplished, had great difficulty accepting his status as an artist. Barely ten years ago, he still refused to sign his works as his personal history did not predispose him to be recognized as one of the most talented sculpting artists of his generation.

A child on public assistance, placed with a foster family near his native village in Lot et Garonne, he spent his adolescence on a small isolated farm.

After a degree in psychology, Jean-Paul Gourdon worked in a horticultural factory while learning the profession of "potter" on the job. Encouraged by a few friends and by a medal for best worker in France, he then dared to exploit what he calls his qualities as a 'modeler'.

He likes to say that unlike the sculptor who removes material to find an anatomy, he takes a block of earth and that he advances step by step by adding earth.

As much as his personality expresses doubt, dissatisfaction, and suffering, so much does his work express a successful search for perfection in a poetic and sensitive realism.

Seeing him work with his hands is a magical moment reserved for few initiates, because he does not like to open his workshop to visitors, always careful not to show anything that is not "finished" for him.

His work is recognized today for his animal sculptures including camels, horses, bulls and more recently monkeys, but he also created a majestic ram's head for the Château Mouton Rothschild wine estate and an emblematic hare for a special order or a 150 kg turkey for an American collector.

His ability to sculpt human anatomy is also magnified in the Tuaregs accompanying the camel works. In fact, Jean-Paul Gourdon loves performance and works hard on any new work. He also had the opportunity to develop a collection of terrines and vegetables in brown or white ceramic for the greatest French chefs.

Chef Alain Ducasse visited him several times at his workshop and sells a specific collection of Jean-Paul Gourdon's vegetables in the boutiques of his starred restaurants.

Since 2009, he has undertaken to create a few bronzes and it seems that a new career is opening up for him, even if those who have followed him from the beginning will remain faithful to his terracotta works which alone can reflect the most intimate details of his work.