Pablo Picasso

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris

Georges Ramié, Céramique de Picasso, Paris, 1974, no. 33, illustrated p. 26

Surface of the plate shows some areas around edges without glaze, inherent to the artist's process. Work is in excellent condition.
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In the summer of 1946, while visiting his friend Louis Fort, Picasso decided to visit the annual pottery exhibition at Vallauris.  A year later, together with Françoise Gilot, Picasso returned to Fort's villa and arranged for a ceramic studio at the Madoura workshop. In May 1948, the couple moved into La Galloise, a small villa in Vallauris.  By this time, Picasso was at the height of his creative activity in the medium, and had produced close to two thousand unique ceramic works. Numerous exhibitions of the artist's ceramics were mounted both in France and abroad, culminating with a show at the Maison de la Pensée Francaise from November 1948 to January 1949. Françoise Gilot reported that the exhibition "made something of a sensation because it was the first time this new aspect of his creativity had been shown" (Paul Bourassa, et al., Picasso and ceramics, Québec, 2004, p. 47).

While Picasso continued to work in this medium into the 1960s, the present work dates from this first phase of Picasso's ceramic period.  Although titled Tête de faune, the work bears an astonishing resemblance to Françoise Gilot.  Painted against a striking background of yellow and black, the wide eyes, dramatic lashes, Aquiline nose and curve of the lips strongly resemble the artist's companion.

 

Pablo Picasso, Gazelle with Françoise in a Patterned Blouse (detail), earthenware, 1950, Private Collection