Clément Massier, one of the most brilliant representatives of French ceramics from the beginning of the 20th century, saw the light of day in 1844, in Vallauris, in a world dominated by the ideas of European Romanticism, politically and by neoclassical rigor, in artistic plan. Vallauris, a picturesque town in the Maritime Alps, written on the cultural map by the genius of Picasso, is located in the heart of the Côte d'Azur, at the intersection of the famous resorts, Cannes and Nice. Solar and dynamic personality, Clément begins his apprenticeship in the workshop of his father, Jacques (1801–1871) at the age of twelve, in 1856. Here he creates series pieces, but also cheerful pieces of great sophistication, in which the forms and decorations are found Louis-Philippe in high fashion. Endowed with a precocious artistic sense, Clément Massier feels the need for change. The innate talent combined with a frenetic curiosity leads him to quickly acquire the alphabet of the craft, but the determining role in his formation as a future artist is played by the Italian ceramist, Gaetano Gandolfi. The meeting with Gandolfi, in 1859, represented the turning point of his artistic career: internalized, capricious and misanthropic, Gaetano Gandolfi is finally disarmed by the candor, intelligence and passion of his younger colleague.

The roar of the great political events in the French capital fades into the silence of the workshop, where he works alongside his cousins, Delphin Massier (1836–1907) and Jean-Baptiste (1850–1916). The revolution of July 1848, the coup d'état of the fall of 1852, when Napoleon III proclaimed the second French Empire seem unreal in the calm provincial atmosphere of Vallauris. The good world of the European metropolises gathers with the same regularity every season on the French Riviera and life seems to continue unabated. There are few who feel the fundamental mutations that art, under the impetus of philosophical ideas and specialized journalism, registers towards the end of the 19th century. Marked by the conquests of the industrial revolution, art wants to be the receiver of its dynamic spirit, in a society that leans more and more towards an avant la lettre globalization. Catalyzed by the invention of the cinema in 1895 and by the unexpected appearance in the decadent landscape of several European provincial towns of famous personalities, determined to divert art from its motherland drained of inspiration, the ideas of the new art are synthesized by Art Nouveau. Built on the ruins of a rapidly changing society, Art Nouveau finds its most faithful expression in the field of decorative arts. The ground on which he moves in France had been prepared by an unpredictable society, which lends art the feverishness and versatility of political life.

Located on the border between glassware and goldsmithing, ceramics knows a controlled development: it does not enjoy the notoriety of French glassware due to the brilliant productions of Gallé or Lalique, from the beginning of the century, or the momentum of the luxury jewelry industry, but its prestige is constantly growing. Ceramics lacks the value of precious metal and the insinuating transparency of glass. Opaque, unspectacular, it responds rather to intellectual demands. Art Nouveau's concern for form is increasingly corroborated with utilitarianism and functionality. At a superficial glance, society's attention to ceramics seems limited. In reality, Paris, the European capital of culture, hosts large-scale events in the field. Between the years 1895 and 1914, the progress of the ceramic industry was showcased in four annual salons: Salon de La Société des Artistes Français, La Société des Artistes Décorateurs, La Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and Le Salon d'Automne, while the Georges Petit galleries , Drouet and Manzi-Joyart host temporary ceramic exhibitions. Like most decorative arts, ceramics is still going through a period of major changes. The first reaction against the old patterns is the departure from the motifs and predilected forms of the Louis-Philippe style, a gesture welcomed in the exhibition-manifesto, organized in 1897 and entitled Ceramics Exhibition on the Champs-de-Mars. The separation of the three Vallauris ceramics factories, run by the Massier family, from established patterns is slow and uneven. For Clément, the daily routine of the parenting workshop slowly becomes oppressive.

The most reactionary of the family members, the most thirsty for innovation, Clément renounces his old collaborators and sets off on his own in an artistic adventure that would take him to the heights of consecration. In 1883, Clément Massier founded his own workshop, in the town of Golfe-Juan, at the intersection of the two beacon cities of world leisure, Nice and Cannes, located not far from Monaco, the principality of big bets. The first gesture of departure from the past was the abandonment of standard ceramics. Skillfully guided by Gaetano Gandolfi, Clément Massier approaches new techniques and perfects himself in the use of enamels, developing a production of great refinement, in which the buds of the new style can be glimpsed. For Clément Massier, his pieces must combine the unparalleled beauty of the Mediterranean landscape and the floral explosions of Provence. The artist seduces his clientele through the brilliance of iridescent glazes, with metallic reflections, in which the entire palette of the spectrum can be found. Collaborating with Gaetano opens the doors to a paradisiacal world, whose splendours he knows how to fully capitalize on.

Clément Massier was not only a creator of talent, who excelled in his field, but also an entrepreneur of great versatility. Aware of technical advances and the new trends of Western society, Clément Massier manages his business with great skill. Strategically located, near the railway, the Clément Massier workshop is conquering increasingly vast markets. Beneficiary of a rich clientele, coming from the ranks of the aristocracy or wealthy bourgeoisie, Clément Massier soon sees his efforts rewarded. He sets in motion a real European commercial network, as a result of the detailed publication of the pieces in catalogs developed under his direct coordination. A true entrepreneur, he inaugurates branches of the workshop in Paris and in several German cities. Shortly after the launch of the company, in 1887, comes the first moment of recognition: the British Royal House gives it the honorary title of royal supplier. Two years later, after elaborate experiments and assiduous searches, Clément Massier is more determined than ever to conquer the world. In 1889, he participated for the first time in a large-scale exhibition and won the gold medal with pieces of Spanish-Moorish inspiration. The key to his immediate success lay in his commercial talent, but above all in his thirst for perfection.

Clément Massier is surrounded by a multitude of personalities, from various fields, whose mastery contributes to raising the artistic level of Massier tiles. The most brilliant collaborators are the Scottish sculptor Alexandre Munroe, the ceramist Félix Optat Milet, trained in the Sèvres workshop, the sculptor James Vilbert and the painter Jules Scalbert. Between 1887 and 1895, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer held the position of artistic director of the workshop and his imprint on creation is major. Versatile artist, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (1865–1953), the studio's most important acquisition, showed his talent in various fields, from painting and engraving to interior design and furniture. The creator of a refined symbolist painting, he stood out in the pastel technique, using a refined chromaticism, with dramatic accents. In 1892, Lévy-Dhurmer signs his first ceramic pieces from Golfe-Juan. Fascinated by the Islamic world, whose vague echoes could still be felt in the local folklore, derived from the old Provençal poetry, of Arab origin, Lévy–Dhurmer creates a wide palette of forms and decorations of Arab inspiration, but also pieces of Persian Sasanian imitation. His earthenware vessels, covered with an iridescent turquoise glaze, modeled on Persian vessels, delight art collectors and wealthy buyers. He thus joins a broad artistic trend directed towards the values of oriental or far-eastern art. After 1896, the year in which the artist considers his apprenticeship in Clément Massier's workshop completed, his ideas are developed by the master, who applies them to the new fluid and dynamic forms of the Art Nouveau style.

Endowed with a special sense of color, he opts for unusual combinations of green-violet-orange or intense blue-purple red, often resorting to monochrome or tinting. Its decorations, inspired by the plant world, remain a tribute to symbolist painting and Art Nouveau. Stylized, without neglecting the essential details, caught in a vortex of winding, dynamic lines, which envelop the forms in an organic network of stems, tendrils and petals, Clément Massier's vessels breathe elegance and vitality. Decorative accents of great delicacy, pastel or dramatic colors, with great power of visual suggestion, transform them into masterpieces of the genre.

Clément Massier's work is characterized by stylistic and decorative variety. The artist masters the language of styles to the same degree as the decorative repertoire. Over time he created pieces grafted onto neoclassical, renaissance and Art Nouveau forms, sometimes marked by eclecticism, Golfe-Juan vessels dominate an increasingly competitive market. Towards the middle of the 20th century, the stylistic motifs gradually tend to simplify, and the forms are reduced to their essence. After 1905, Clément Massier's creation, having reached artistic maturity, reorients itself towards luxury culinary ceramics, towards utilitarian items (ashtrays, boxes for hairpins) and architectural products, such as artistic tiles. In 1917, in the midst of World War II, the master died, leaving behind a flourishing business that would last until 1990. Today, in the former workshop turned museum, exhibitions dedicated to Massier ceramics are hosted, as well as exhibitions of painting, graphics and drawing.

In the ceramic collection of the Peleş National Museum, the Art Nouveau earthenware vessel is preserved, modeled on the wheel and decorated with stylized motifs, fuchsia flowers, which uniformly cover its body, like a vegetal carpet. The unconventional positioning of the small straight handles on either side of the piece, close to the base, in asymmetric groups of one and four handles and three others, close to the mouth, gives the piece a modern character. The delicate design, executed with fine enamel strokes, over the brick-red metallic glaze in degradé, reveals the model. Colored in shades of brick with purple and cyclamen accents, the floral decoration capitalizes on the elegant shape of the piece, inspired by the old Albarello pharmacy vessels. Truly regal, Massier pottery is widely imitated by a number of ceramists of the era, such as Zsolnay–Pecs, from Hungary, and Samuel Weller, from the USA. Contemporary with famous creators, such as Ernest Chaplet, the inventor of the impasto technique, Émile Müller, who laid the foundations of the stoneware that bears his name and Émile Decoeur, with pieces inspired by the Far Eastern celadons, Clément Massier knew how to find the right and original note in the great symphony of French ceramic art at the dawn of the 20th century.