Simon Lissim

These designs feature imagery of fish, a subject that appears time and again in Simon Lissim’s paintings and design drawings. Born in Kiev, Russia, he moved to Paris at 19 years old to embark on what would become a prolific career as an artist, designer, and illustrator. In the 1920s he began designing for Sèvres, the French porcelain manufactory.

Lissim created hundreds of designs for porcelain manufactured by Sèvres, Castleton, and Lenox over the course of his career. He likely made many more designs than were ever physically produced, but the works shown here demonstrate how he repeated patterns, enlivening them with bold colors. [see also 71.103].