Vintage Pichet Espagnol by Pablo Picasso for Madoura Pottery, 1954

Pichet Espagnol' ceramic piece from the Madoura Pottery (A.R. 245) by Pablo Picasso (1954). A fired, unglazed ceramic pitcher in the form of a stylised bird with elegant, minimalist painted decor. This is a vintage, limited edition earthenware creation, in a run of 200 ( Edition Picasso ) at the Madoura pottery, Vallauris, France, under the supervision of Pablo Picasso himself. It has been documented in the: " Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre Céramique de Picasso de 1947 à 1971 ", by Alain Ramié (A.R.), Galerie Madoura, 1988. It is listed in catalogue raisonné no. 245. The reference is viewed as the authoritative documentation of Picasso's pieces (such as this one) created at the Galerie Madoura between 1947 and 1971. This particular piece is number 76 / 200. The ceramic is in very good overall condition apart from minor surface soiling on the handle. The piece is inscribed ' Edition Picasso ' and ' Madoura ', with those associated stamps. Please enjoy the many photos accompanying this listing. Background : In 1946 while vacationing with his lover Françoise Gilot at Golfe-Juan in the South of France, Picasso met Georges and Suzanne Ramié, the owners of the Madoura pottery studio in the nearby town of Vallauris. The Ramiés welcomed Picasso into their workshop where the artist created three ceramic objects, a head of a faun and two bulls. While Picasso had experimented with clay almost 40 years earlier, this encounter at Madoura so captivated his interest that the artist returned a year later, sketches in hand and his head brimming with ideas. He began working at Madoura daily, completing over 1,000 unique pieces between 1947 and 1948. This was the start of a friendship and creative partnership with the Ramiés that would last until Picasso’s death. Acknowledging the inherently serial nature of pottery production, Picasso and the Ramiés decided to make multiples of his ceramics that would be sold at Madoura. By this time Picasso was a world-renowned artist, and being well aware of his fame, he wanted to make his work more accessible. “I would like them to be found in every market, so that, in a village in Brittany or elsewhere, one might see a woman going to the fountain to fetch water with one of my jars.” And so, between 1947 and 1971, Picasso designed 633 different ceramic works that were to be made in editions of 25 to 500. Dimensions : H 22 cm / 8.7" W 25 cm / 9.8" D 12 cm / 4.7"