Picasso ceramics | Leona Craig Art

Ceramics, Picasso’s last wealth

In 1946, Picasso went to Paris, France to attend the opening ceremony of the painting. After the opening ceremony, he was invited by a friend to the famous ceramics town of Valloris in southern France to participate in a ceramic exhibition. At the ceramics exhibition, he greatly appreciated the works of the famous local pottery master Susan Hamier. After the exhibition, Mrs. Susan invited Picasso to visit her pottery workshop. At that time, Picasso pinched three ceramics. The following year, after Picasso participated in an exhibition in Paris, he wanted to see the effect of the three ceramics made in Madura at that time, so he took Matiss and Chagall to Madura. After seeing the effects of the three works, Picasso decided to stay on the spot. This stay was nearly thirty years.

In Picasso’s view, he was deeply afraid that after ten thousand years, his oil paintings would corrode because of the age, and ceramics, as long as the firing is stable, they can be preserved permanently. Therefore, in the last thirty years of Picasso’s artistic creation, he devoted his main creative energy to ceramic creation. The team of Picasso and Madura Pottery spent more than 20 years re-creating the ceramics and studying how to use the best clay and the best glaze to make the ceramics permanent. According to statistics, from 1947 to 1971, Picasso created more than 4,000 ceramic works, and among these more than 4,000 works, he selected 633 as limited works, each ranging from 25 to 500 pieces.

In the thirty years of Picasso’s ceramic creation, there are three main stages: the flat-painting period, the cubism, and the pottery period.

During the flat painting period, Picasso used the porcelain plates commonly used in the south of France as a canvas, depicting important goats, bullfights, and figures in his life on the plate. It is worth mentioning that many works by Picasso during this period were painted with Chinese brushes. It is reported that Mr. Zhang Daqian presented a set of Chinese writing brushes to him when he visited Picasso. He could quickly understand the characteristics of the writing brushes, use it to draw lines with vitality, and create works with oriental charm.

In the second period of ceramic creation, Picasso applied cubism to the creation of ceramics. Many cubist representatives often seen in oil paintings also appeared in his ceramics. “Jacqueline by the easel” is typical example. During this period, he even changed the jars in traditional vessels to transform various owls and women’s works.

In the third period, which is also the most important period in Picasso’s ceramic creation, he tried to shape the sculptures himself, and started real ceramic creation. “Head of a Woman Wearing a Corolla”, “Owl” and “Smile with a Smile” are representative works of this period. Picasso integrated sculpture, painting and pottery into one, and created pieces of unique art with fire. In this period, fire became Picasso’s new creative challenge. He wanted to conquer the fire and drive the magical effects of ceramics in different temperature changes.

In recent years, Picasso’s ceramics have received strong attention from the market. Picasso’s son Claude held a large-scale ceramic exhibition of his father at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. France, Madrid, Rome and other world-renowned museums have held Picasso ceramics special exhibitions. The head of Sotheby’s Europe said: “Picasso ceramics provide collectors with an opportunity to own original works of the artist. Many buyers will be attracted by these works because each work has a very obvious ‘Picasso’ symbol, It fulfilled Picasso’s dream of ‘anyone can own one of his works’. “