Picasso’s charismatic visits, from 1946 on: to work at Madoura — where he produced one-offs for art collectors, as well as limited editions for a wider public — established Vallauris as a trendy holiday destination where Art blended with sea-side culture.
The presence of other artists — Pignon, Miro, Chagall, Ozenfant, Léger, Cocteau, etc. — affected the practice of potters who adopted and developed modern painterly styles that brought Art into everyday life through the mediation of affordable ceramic objects.
Thus, many of the workshops that had produced humble cooking ware since the eighteenth century, progressively re-opened to produce ‘poterie d’art’, that emphasised the ‘fait main’ or ‘décoré main’ (as was often inscribed on the base of hand-turned or slipcast pieces), made in series and retailed at affordable prices.
Initially, some artists shared a workshop, where they worked individually; sharing expenses, assistants equipment, and know how’s. According to the old division of labour, throwers were often sub-contracted to produce series of objects that were then hand-decorated by assistants.
This large dish by an unidentified maker,
features a composition by Picasso on a corrida theme, that shows the Picador, and was originally created by Picasso in 1959 as a lino-cut.
It may have been made by ‘LES DEUX POTIERS’ in Perpignan, where the piece was bought around the time, by the previous owners. The signature is obliterated or covered.
This charger is emblematic of a period where Picasso became synonymous with modernity in the arts and his work inspired countless expressions of modernity in the arts and crafts.
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