History of Pablo Picasso Clay Art

Pablo Picasso is known as an innovative and politically inspired painter who created artworks during the cubist movement. Born in Spain, Picasso painted famous artworks including "Guernica" (1937) and "Three Musicians" (1921). Picasso also created sculptures and ceramics with other artists, including Georges and Suzanne Ramie.

History

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 and died in 1973. The majority of his works were paintings, but he was always intrigued by ceramics. According to the Polk Museum, after seeing works by Madoura pottery in France at a craft fair in 1946, Picasso searched out ceramic artists Georges and Suzanne Ramie, the owners of the Madoura studio, to collaborate.

Time Frame

Suzanne and Georges Ramie opened their pottery studio to Picasso, only to have him make a few creations and leave them for more than a year. According to Alain Ramie, writing for the catalogue of Picasso’s edited ceramics works through Madoura, after the year away, Picasso returned to continue with the ceramics collaboration and the Ramies welcomed him back eagerly.

Significance

Picasso sought to create ceramic pieces that were graphic in nature, in repeated shapes. According to Art Guide Northwest, Picasso successfully turned functional objects such as jugs, plates and vases into figurative sculptures. It is thought that Picasso may not have been solely responsible for throwing his own vases and jugs, but did have a hand at directly painting onto the wares.

Popularity

By the late 1940s, Picasso was using some of the first electric fired kilns and was creating celebrated ceramics with expressive shapes and designs with dominant themes such as birds and faces. According to Art Guide Northwest, his ceramics were gaining so much attention that he created a wedding gift of 13 dessert plates for actress Rita Hayworth when she married Prince Aly Kahn in 1949.

Conclusion

According to the Polk Museum, Picasso in collaboration with the Madoura studio produced more than 633 pieces of ceramics. Picasso’s clay works are now known and appreciated as part of his legacy and set a standard for artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

References

• Art Guide Northwest: Picasso’s Ceramics at the Tacoma Art Museum: A New World Awakening
• Galerie Madoura: Pablo Picasso and Ceramics: Foreword from the Picasso’s edited ceramic works catalogue by Alain Ramie
• Polk Museum of Art: Picasso: 25 Years of Edition Ceramics from the Edward Weston Collection