Plate (Four Enlaced Profiles)
Artist
Pablo Picasso
(Spanish, 1881-1973)
Manufacturer
Madoura
(French)
CultureSpanish
Date1949
MediumEarthenware
DimensionsOverall: 10 1/4 in. (26 cm)
InscribedStamped on reverse: "Madoura/Plein/Feu & Empreinte/Original de/Picasso". Also stamped in underglaze black: "France".
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.1063
Not on view
DescriptionWhite plate decorated in blue with triple faces in relief.Label TextPablo Picasso Spanish, 1881–1973 Manufactured by Madoura (Vallauris, France) Earthenware Jug (Painted Head), 1953 Plate (Four Enlaced Profiles), 1949 Plate (Four Enlaced Profiles), 1949 Aztec Vase with Four Faces, 1957 Vase (Wood Owl with Feathers), 1951 Gifts of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.3077, 71.3521, 71.1063, 71.1068, 71.1067, respectively Pablo Picasso admired the work of the Madoura Pottery Factory while summering in Vallauris, a town in the south of France. With the help of owner Suzanne Ramie, he began in 1947 to explore ceramics as a new artistic medium, returning to Madoura’s studio regularly for the next 25 years. Through these collaborations, Picasso ultimately created more than 600 designs for plates, bowls, vases, and jugs, all hand-painted and sold in limited editions of varying size. Picasso’s favorite themes—bullfights, animals, still lifes, and Cubist faces—take on new and colorful energy in these works. Catalogue raisonnéAlain Ramié, _Picasso: Catalogue de L'oeuvre Céramique Édité, 1947-1971_ (Paris: Madoura, 1988) pattern no. 87 (or variant).