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PI C AS S O
25 YeArS Of
edITIOn CerAmICS
frOm The rOSenbAum COlleCTIOn
Carnegie Arts Center
Turlock, CA
September 15, 2013 - January 15, 2014
PICASSO
25 YeArS Of edItIOn CerAmICS
W
elcome to the Carnegie Arts Center. We are pleased
to present Picasso: 25 Years of Edition Ceramics from
the Rosenbaum Collection. The exhibition includes 46 ceramic
works created by Pablo Picasso in collaboration with Georges
and Suzanne ramie and the artisans at their madoura pottery
in Vallauris, france, between 1947 and 1971.
Picasso and madame ramie examine a plate which has
just come from an oven at the madoura Pottery.
Internationally famed for his paintings, sculptures, and graphics,
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was long intrigued by ceramics.
After seeing the works of the madoura potters at a crafts fair
in 1946, he asked Georges and Suzanne ramie, owners of the
studio, to provide him with the opportunity to work with
ceramics. The workshop arrangement they established--where
an artist is paired with highly trained assistants to
produce finished works--was a familiar one to Picasso
who had similar experiences working in printmaking
and sculpture workshops. for the next 25 years, he
closely collaborated with madoura pottery, producing
his own thrown pieces as well as the edition ceramics
seen in this exhibit.
The madoura Pottery, Vallauris, france, 1947.
Picasso and the madoura studio ultimately produced
633 different plates, bowls, vases and pitchers in limited editions ranging from 25 to 500. Picasso's
involvement in producing the objects varied. he
sometimes made the clay molds used for the designs,
at other times he painted plates or pitchers that
subsequently served as models for the editions.
Picasso and madoura's artisans then finished the
prototypes and the editions were made. Two of the
prototype works made by Picasso are included in this
exhibition.
Picasso plates at the madoura Pottery.
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PICASSO
25 YeArS Of edItIOn CerAmICS
The works in the exhibition are largely drawn from the collection
of marvin rosenbaum of boca raton, fl. mr. rosenbaum has been
collecting Picasso ceramics for over 40 years and has become
a well-respected expert in the field, possessing more than 100
pieces in his collection. We extend our gratitude to him as well
as to Jean Gibran who has loaned Bunch with Apple, 1956 (A.r.
305). Keiko banks has further enhanced the exhibit by loaning the
two unique, prototype works, fish in Profile, 1951 (A.r. 130 and
A.r. 132).
All exhibitions represent the collective efforts of many people.
Picasso decorates a plate at the madoura
We would like to thank the exhibit curator, Gerald nordland,
Pottery.
noted author and independent curator, and former director
of the San francisco Art museum, the milwaukee Art museum, and the Wight Gallery, uClA. Our
gratitude is also extended to Jeani ferrari, President of the board, whose energy and encouragement
make many things possible. Priscilla Peters worked tirelessly with her program committee to develop
the engaging, complementary programs being offered throughout the period the exhibit is on view.
Cliff bailey, lisa mcdermott, and nic Webber focused on the facility and the many demanding details
of installing an exhibit such as this.
We are especially indebted to our sponsors who made it possible, including Prime Shine Car Wash,
hilmar Cheese Company, Inc., Gemperle family farms, Winton Ireland Strom & Green, Turlock
Chamber of Commerce Convention and Visitors bureau, the John and Jeani ferrari family foundation,
deborah Kavasch and John marvin, Jaureguy's Paint &
decorating, lancaster Painting, the members of the
Carnegie Arts Center, and the modesto bee.
We thank you for coming and hope that you will
return often.
rebecca Phillips Abbott
executive director and Curator
Alain ramie, son of Georges and Suzanne ramie, and marvin
rosenbaum at the madoura Pottery.
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The ediTion CeramiCs
of Pablo PiCasso by Gerald nordland
A
t the close of the Second World War in 1945, Pablo Picasso, at the age of 63, enjoyed his recognition
as one of the leading painters, sculptors and graphic artists of the 20th century. he was hailed for his
steadfast support of the french resistance and his refusal to collaborate with the German occupiers. he
had been acclaimed as a young romantic painter—(blue and rose Periods); celebrated as a revolutionary
formal innovator (Cubist painting and sculpture); lauded as co-inventor of open-form welded metal
sculpture (with fellow Spaniard, Julio Gonzalez); recognized for having studied and mastered the
encyclopedic collections of the louvre; and praised as a prolific master of etching, drypoint and aquatint
printing techniques. he was soon to enter into an ambitious series of lithographic studies—The bull;
Portraits of francoise; Arcadian revels of centaurs and bacchantes; and homages to lucas Cranach, which
would make it clear that he was equally resourceful and virtuosic in the lithographic medium. Picasso
epitomized the renaissance ideal of an artist, working in every medium with skill, intelligence and energy.
he vacationed at Golfe-Juan, on the mediterranean in 1945 and again in 1946—his first visits since the war.
In Summer 1946, while attending an exhibition of local handcrafts in nearby Vallauris, he met Georges and
Suzanne ramie, owners of the madoura Pottery. he asked permission to make a few works and was willingly
assigned a spot at the bench, where he shaped three pieces. In September, at Golfe-Juan, he complained to
the Curator of the musee d’Antibes (Grimaldi Palace), m. dor de la Souchere, that he had never been
offered a great space where he could paint. On the spot, the curator told him that he could have a studio
in the museum. Picasso promptly ordered materia ls— sheetings of asbestos and plywood, and a supply of
marine paints—all that could be obtained at that post-war time. In less than four months—September
through december—Picasso created all but one of the 25 paintings, 33 drawings, and 11 oils on paper, now
on view at the Grimaldi-Picasso museum, Antibes. his mediterranean subjects included fish, urchins, squid,
fishermen, hungry eaters of fish, and high spirited centaurs and fauns enacting and celebrating the Joie de
Vivre.
When Picasso returned to Vallauris in Summer 1947, he was pleased to find his three earlier ceramic
experiments, and he carried with him a packet of drawings which he thought might come to life in clay.
his pleasure in working with clay and with the owners and staff of the madoura Pottery resulted in a
working environment familiar to him from his experience in etching and sculpture workshops. The ramies
and staff were delighted to apply their knowledge and technical skills to help Picasso realize his projects.
he devoted increasing amounts of time to the work, including a large part of 1947, and intermittently
during vacations for 25 years, but never became capable of throwing a pot on the wheel, or solving the
technical problems of glazes and multiple firings. he began directly with a lump of clay to model a bird,
a pigeon, an owl, a dove. he was given advice and assistance with colors, glazing and firing.
he asked for a supply of Spanish Platters (rectangular plates with rounded corners), which he decorated
simply in a long and inventive series of face plates treated like canvasses with sgrafito, colored fields,
borders, and decorative reinforcements. he turned to common pignate (casserole forms) from stock, and
decorated numbers of them with delightful friezes of dancing figures. he selected pitchers from stock to
decorate, emphasizing their globular character with both the chosen colors and the decorative graphic
geometry.
As he worked, Picasso learned to ask for more specific ceramic pieces: round and oblong dishes, plates both
standard and turned, round, square, oval and round/square. he used vase forms, both standard and turned,
floor tiles, wall plaques in tile, and earthenware, round, rectangular and hexagonal, and occasionally inverted
dishes to work on the reverse in shaping convex wall plaques. he came upon discarded fire bricks and
occasional shards of broken pots which inspired him to recycle and redeem these suggestive forms in an
unprecedented fashion. In his nearly twenty five years at Vallauris he produced, invented, and discovered
literally thousands of unique creations.
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Picasso was a quick worker, decisive in mind and hand, who remembered the ramies’ teachings and
suggestions, and began to communicate in their ceramic language. he devoted long hours to developing
ideas and multiple variations upon them. Soon he began to find among his accumulating works pieces which
embodied a vitality that he felt might be produced in an edition. he discussed with the ramies how such
editions might be made, and as a result they evolved a series of positive stamps for the underside of such
works, which proclaimed the work as an original, an authorized copy, or a numbered and/or signed example
of “Picasso editions” made from a plaster original plate, and imprinted in the manner of an edition of
multiple original etchings. The ramies developed technical procedures to insure precision of form and
accurate rendering of the drawn designs and colors. A genuine replica of an original by an accurate model
of the exact contour and coloring, created by hand and using materials and methods of which very precise
reference notes were made at the time the original piece was created. The successful work received the
proper impressed stamp of authenticity. Picasso retained most of the unique works, making occasional
presents to friends and to the muses d’Antibes, along with a few major sculptures. After his death an
important gift of ceramics was made to the Picasso museum, Paris, with the remainder divided among his
heirs.
Picasso soon learned that he could cap a tall vase or bottle and freely manipulate its shape into proportions
reflective of a female figure—amplify a hip, squeeze a waist, shape the breasts and throat—prior to colorglazing and firing. he named these lyrical female figures “Tanagras,” a reference to the elegant 3rd century
bC ceramic female figurines in flowing robes found at that location in Greece. his “Tanagras” were, of
course, unique and retained for his own collection. his next innovation was to assemble wheel thrown
elements to produce new un-pot-like pieces such as Wood Owl Woman, 1951; Vase with Two High Handles;
King, 1952; and Queen, 1953, with figure balancing handles; Ice Pitcher, 1952; and Large Bird (Picasso), 1953.
These “assembled works” were hardly different in kind from his Cubist assemblages, his found object
bronzes, or bike seat and handlebar Head of Bull. he then built even more extravagant works such as Vase:
Femme a I’ Amphore, 1947; Grey and Black Bird,1947; Large Roosting Bird (Four elements), 1947; a long series of
owls, 1952; a Centaur, 1953; Animal Form with Handle and Four Feet, 1954; and countless bulls, kids, condors,
and invented animals, which sprung to life under his hands.
The pottery student requested that a large pitcher form be turned and modified to his specifications.
he then launched a series of designs—sometimes inscribing a contradictory form, such as a slender vase
of flowers in color upon the outer surface, so that the pitcher’s silhouette and the vase-and flower image
were set in constant dialogue. In other pitchers he inscribed calla lilies, parrots, a landscape with a twostory building, a series of four nude or clothed figures set out upon the pitcher’s four faces, Arcadian scenes
with centaurs and fauns, male and female heads. These turned and formed volumes offered irregular convex
surfaces for his imagination as well as a memorable pitcher profile. In many cases these works were never
used in domestic service, but were displayed on a sideboard, table, or vitrine as prestigious collectors’
items. Oftentimes he would sign them boldly and/or inscribe the work’s date—day, month and year. There
can be no doubt that Picasso valued these inventive pieces as enduring works of art.
recognizing that in utility some shoppers for ceramics might seek sets of plates for serving a table of
guests, he worked to form a service of twelve “black plates,” twenty fruit plates, and twenty-four fish plates,
plus related serving platters and tureens. many of his forms tended toward the three dimensional and are
therefore in part nonutilitarian: plates decorated with a whole fish in relief; three sardines in high relief;
half a watermelon with knife and fork; or a breakfast of two eggs, bacon and black pudding. In many other
cases, when the depicted subject is not in high relief, Picasso would nevertheless decorate the surface with
patterns of ridged lines and bumps, as in the two plates titled Goat’s Head in Profile, 1952; Hands with Fish,
1953; Big- Eyed Face, 1954; the white on white Disheveled Woman, 1963, and many dancers and birds in
relatively low relief. It must be remembered that many of the works which we may know by a single
example actually are part of a short series of three or more variations. Picasso focused all of his knowledge
from all of his arts on his ceramic outpourings, and found numbers of ways to re-examine a given design:
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a blind stamp into red terra cotta, a blind stamp into terra cotta after a white glaze, a number of differing
color-glaze treatments, which might result in a series of four or more quite different plates derived from
a single image.
It seems fair to conclude that Picasso’s ceramic adventures had profound influences, enlarging his field
of invention, stimulating his imagination, and enriching his painting, sculpture and graphic output in the
post-war period. The turned pitcher form with a series of four females derived from plant forms, with
petal-heads and breasts (1948), was arrived at after his painted portrait of his new love, francoise
Gilot—Femme-Fleur, 5 may 1946. his series of light-hearted Arcadian subjects appeared in ceramics
shortly after those in the Grimaldi paintings and drawings, and soon found expression in subsequent
etchings and lithographs. In some cases ceramic experiments influenced the artist’s next works in bronze.
Picasso was so broadly experienced in two and three dimensions that he succeeded in achieving his
powerful effects with minimal means, moving back and forth with ease. his esthetic effects are complex,
combining intellectual daring, technical skill, economy, and impish humor.
As early as 1951 Picasso devised a sculptural pot-form which involved a spherical pot body, a short neck,
an equally short pedestal, plus a secondary cylindrical “pigtail” protruding from the base of the body. he
utilized this form, in many witty variations, to create Wood Owl Woman, 1951; Mat Wood Owl, 1958; The Wood
Owl, 1969, among others. In the first named, he used a white glaze and simple black calligraphy to evoke a
woman’s head. In the “owl” pieces he found new integrations of the neck and tail feather elements to form
owls with knife engraving in black on red in the first, and a layering of black, white and red in the second--all
from the identical form. In Ice Pitcher, 1952, he chose a globular pitcher form with a small filter-spout and a
large mouth to the rear of the handle. decorated with oxide colors and engraved in blue on white enamel,
it became a female portrait. Vase with Two High Handles, 1952 and 1953, have the same foundation shape in
earthenware, but the glazes and engraved decorations tend to differentiate them until seen side by side.
Large Bird, Picasso, 1953, is a memorable and imposing abstract pot sculpture, which offers a form which the
artist revisited over a number of years. each viewer enjoys discrete experiences in studying these ceramics
which draw upon a wide range of ceramic forms. Woman’s Head Crowned with Flowers, 1954, is strongly
sculptural, begun from a pitcher form but shaped to emphasize the brow, cheek bones and hair. The example
included is rendered in stark white, with the only embellishment being Picasso’s brazen signature beneath
the Woman’s left ear. It is a tour de force in editioned ceramic art.
Picasso’s ceramic oeuvre may seem frivolous to some, but it is extremely ambitious and encompassing.
It is an important part of his life’s work, embodying his imagination and wit, his enthusiasm for making
much from little; his humanistic understanding of the mytho-poetic power of simple utensils to express
the physical well-being associated with the pleasures of the table-by means of capacious and generous
dishes, bowls and pitchers. This well-being can be related to the comfort and reassurance one finds in the
warm hearth. These splendid simple forms embody the sacraments and ceremonies of daily meals taken en
famille. It is the artist’s witty variations on religious and mythic tales of God’s use of clay to create a human
likeness—and all the birds and beasts; the transformation of one form into another—bird into spirit, God
into bull, and the magical recognition of plates that are never empty and jugs that are always full.
Mr. Nordland is an independent curator and noted author. He was previously Director of the San Francisco Art Museum,
The Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Wight Gallery, UCLA. He has authored books on Gaston Lachaise, Frank Lloyd Wright,
Richard Diebenkorn and others. Mr. Nordland has curated numerous exhibitions including an exhibition of 20th Century
Master Ceramics for the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Suggested reading list:
Picasso, his life and Work, roland Penrose. n.Y.: Schocken books, 1958
Picasso in Antibes, dor de la Souchere. london: lund-humphries, 1960
The Picasso museum, Paris, bozo, besnard-bernadac, marie & Seckel-Klein, helene. n.Y. Abrams,1996
Picasso, Catalo gue of the edited Ceramic Works. 1947–1971, Alain ramie, Galerie madoura, france, 1988
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Pablo Picasso: Chronology
1881 Pablo ruiz Picasso was born on October 25,
1881 in málaga on the mediterranean coast of Spain.
his father, Jose ruiz blasco, became a Professor at the
barcelona Academy of fine Arts when Picasso was
fifteen. his mother was marie Picasso. Picasso initially
used his father’s and mother’s family names but after
1901 he dropped ruiz from his signature and used only
Picasso.
1896 Picasso demonstrated extraordinary talent from
an early age. his father encouraged and guided his
studies until 1896 when he passed the entrance tests
for the barcelona Academy, taking one day to complete
an examination that ordinarily took a whole month.
A short time later he repeated this performance at the
San fernando Academy of fine Arts in madrid. he soon
grew bored there, however, and returned to barcelona
to become an independent artist at the age of sixteen.
he began painting realistic studies of somber beggars
with the skill of an old master. Over time he grew in
confidence, depicting street people and filling sketch
books with notes on barcelona street scenes and
nightlife, including caricatures and portrait studies.
1900–1903 during these years, Picasso went to Paris
three times before permanently settling there in 1904.
he paid close attention to the work of avant garde
artists such as Gauguin, van Gogh, Toulouse-lautrec,
Vuillard, and the Impressionists. his most important
first exhibit took place at Galerie Vollard in 1901. It was
widely admired by art critics and a commercial success.
In 1901 Picasso begins his blue Period in painting—
the color in keeping with his melancholy subject matter,
including ladies of the evening and beggars.
1904–1906 now living in Paris, Picasso makes his first
etchings in 1904, his first sculpture in 1905, and begins
making woodcuts in 1905-1906. In 1905, he also enters
his rose Period in painting, depicting handsome figures
of a Grecian character in rose pink colors.
1906–1907 he turns to his “African period” in 1906,
primarily influenced by primitive Iberian art and African
sculpture. In a radical break from tradition, he paints
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon in 1907. The compressed space
and fractured planes of this painting were key elements
in the development of Cubism.
1916–1924 Artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau
introduces Picasso to Sergei diaghilev, the director
of the ballets russes. Picasso designs curtains, sets and
costumes for several ballets. he meets ballerina Olga
Kokhlova while working on Parade, his first collaboration
with diaghilev. They marry in 1918.
1928–1935 his collaboration begins with sculptor
Julio González, whose pioneering work in the artistic
potential of welding stirs Picasso’s interest in metal
sculpture. Picasso moves to boisgeloup Castle in
normandy where he sets up a sculpture studio in 1931.
In 1935, he separates from his wife, Olga.
1936–1937 The Spanish Civil War begins and Picasso
sympathizes with the republicans. In 1937 on behalf of
the Spanish nationalist forces, German warplanes bomb
Guernica, a village in northern Spain. Picasso responds
by painting Guernica, a mural-size oil painting designed to
bring the world’s attention to the bombing of the
basque town. It continues to do so to the present day.
1941 Picasso writes his first play, Desire Caught by the
Tail. during his career he wrote over 300 poems and
two full-length plays.
1945 he begins a studio collaboration with fernand
mourlot and explores the creative possibilities of
lithography, a printing process.
1947–1971 Picasso made his first ceramic pieces in
1929 but he concentrates more fully on ceramic making
from 1947-1971. during this period, he collaborates
with Georges and Suzanne ramie and the artisans at the
madoura pottery in Vallauris, Southern france. In 1961,
he marries Jacqueline roque, who worked at madoura.
1973 Prolific in all artistic media, Pablo Picasso
produced tremendous numbers of works in his lifetime,
often using the workshop system to increase
productivity by means of highly trained assistants. he
brought to each medium a searching intelligence and
willingness to stretch the rules and explore its inherent
possibilities. he died at the age of 91 in 1973, leaving his
huge estate to his surviving family, to the Picasso
museums in Antibes and Paris, and to the french State.
1908–1914 Picasso and Georges braque develop
Cubism and are soon joined by artists such as Juan Gris
and fernand léger.
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209-632-5761
The historic Carnegie library opened in 1916, one of more than 1,600 libraries built by
Andrew Carnegie across the u.S. It served as Turlock’s library until 1968 and has been
used as an arts center since 1979. In november 2005 a fire destroyed everything but its
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The Carnegie's programs include exhibitions, education classes and programs, lectures, and
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exhibition Sponsors
Prime Shine Car Wash
Gemperle family farms
Winton Ireland Strom & Green
John and Jeani ferrari family foundation
deborah Kavasch & John marvin
hilmar Cheese Company, Inc.
Turlock Convention & Visitors bureau
Jaureguy’s Paint & decorating
lancaster Painting
The modesto bee
members of the Carnegie Arts Center
Organized by
lAndAu TrAVelInG exhIbITIOnS
lOS AnGeleS, CA
Web site: www.a-r-t.com e-mail: info@ a-r-t.com