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Petit Buste de Femme (Small Bust of a Woman)
Pablo Picasso
(Spanish, 1881-1973)
Stamped Madoura Plein Feu Empreinte Originale de Picasso
Numbered 53/100
Earthenware plaque with black paint
Dimensions: 32.8 x 25.2 x 1.8cm
Conceived in 1962 and produced in 1964
One of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso’s career spanned over seven decades, roughly from 1899 until his death in 1972, experimenting across media. The present work, Petit Buste de Femme, is a fine example of the artist’s fascination with ceramic, with which he started experimenting in the early 1940’s, and which is indissolubly tied to the Madoura workshop, based in Vallauris, in the south of France.
P. Picasso, Petit Buste de Femme (1962)
Picasso first encountered the owners of Madoura, Suzanne and Georges Ramié, in 1946, beginning a collaboration that would last over 25 years. In this time, the company produced the artist’s designs in ceramic, including the present earthenware plaque with black glaze, Petit Buste de Femme. The model follows that of a linocut produced in 1962, thus referencing another important part of the artist’s career, printmaking, which developed especially after World War II. Incidentally, it was through Madoura that Picasso was introduced to Hidalgo Arnéra, a printer and engraver who would later collaborate with the artist on his linocuts.
Pablo Picasso with Jacqueline Roque (1957). Photo by David Douglas Duncan
The plate depicts Picasso’s muse and second wife, Jacqueline Roque. The two met at the pottery in Vallauris in 1953 and married 9 years later. They were introduced by Suzanne Ramié, who was Roque’s cousin. Picasso was always inspired by the women in his life, as his friend, the photographer Brassaï noted, “he always submits to a woman only to free himself from her in his works. A romantic adventure is not an end in itself to him but the indispensable stimulus for his creative power”. This was particularly true in his relationship with Jacqueline Roque, of whom he painted more portraits than any of his other lovers.
Works by Pablo Picasso
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