Taxile Doat

Taxile Doat

(1851-1938)
Born in France in 1851, Taxile Maximin Doat studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1875 to 1877 after which he began to master the art of ‘pâte-sur-pâte’ on stoneware and porcelain as he joined the prestigious Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres. From 1898 Doat also operated in his own private workshop in Sèvres which allowed him to experiment with different types of shapes, glazes and techniques but also influences like Greek and Roman mythology and of course Japonism. The first decade of the XXth century made him a true master and his reputation quickly reached the United States where he was finally invited in 1909 by the American Woman’s League in Saint Louis as director of the newly founded Art Academy in University City, Missouri. His University City period made him one of the most famous French artists of his time. After World War I broke out, he had to return to France and sell his American creations to the City Art Museum of Saint Louis. He continued his extensive production throughout the Art Deco period and ultimately died in 1938.