When he returned to the Madoura studio in July 1947, Picasso brought in a folder full of drawings he had made during the winter of 1946-47 planning his next ceramic works.[1] He drew more sketches during the summer and fall of 1947, many of which were then produced as ceramics.
These seventy sheets, dated from 1946 to 1953, contain the preliminary sketches for ceramic pieces as well as studies for shapes of jugs and vases, most of them dated by the artist himself.
On the sheets covered with preliminary drawings, we don’t only find projected pieces; we also witness the process through which the forms come into being. Most of these sketches clearly show how Picasso used serialization, variation, and metamorphosis to transform the elements of utilitarian ceramics into signifiers in his quest to produce new zoomorphic or anthropomorphic figures. However, this transformation is effected in such a way that the link to the vessel remains, with its different elements often performing a twofold function: representing a figurative theme while also signaling the function of the vessel. That is where the ambivalence of these figurations lies, halfway between a vessel and a plastic representation (Figs. 11, 18).
[1] Georges Ramié, Céramiques de Picasso, Paris, Editions Cercle d’Art, 1974, pp. 14 and 17.
Pencil on paper.
Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte, Madrid
© FABA Photo: Eric Baudouin
© Succession Picasso 2020.
White earthenware, decoration painted with engobes and oxides.
Picasso Museum, Antibes
© ImageArt, Photo Claude Germain.
© Picasso Estate.
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Summary