Pablo Picasso
1881-1973 | Spanish

Pitcher

Earthenware ceramic and paint

This important clay pitcher created by the highly celebrated master Pablo Picasso in 1954 is a rare ceramic artwork in his oeuvre. The pitcher stands as a testament to the artist’s profound connection with his Mediterranean heritage and features the skillfully incised visages of a human and an owl. The ceramic is further adorned with elegant white accents on the handle and rim — a compelling fusion of artistic expression and practical function.

Though he lived and produced most of his work in France, Picasso was born and raised in Malága, Spain, a cultural hub of Mediterranean art and history. After seeing the works of the Spanish Madoura potters in 1946, Picasso began working at a Madoura pottery workshop in Vallauris, Spain. He quickly adapted to the art of ceramics, yet he of course opted for an unconventional path. He began to explore novel combinations of glazes, slips and oxides, yielding singular and unforeseen artistic outcomes. Picasso ingeniously incised images on press-molded plates while they were still in their moist state, imbuing his ceramic works with his signature modern and Cubist style. The present pitcher, at once familiar and innovative, is a striking emblem of Picasso’s intellectual journey through clay.

Other examples of Picasso’s ceramic works are almost exclusively held in private collections and various prestigious museums, including the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Museu Picasso in Barcelona. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s monumental 1999 exhibition Picasso: Painter in Clay presented the first-ever comprehensive collection of Picasso’s pottery. Upon its opening, William S. Lieberman, Chairman of the Met's Department of 20th Century Art, excitedly stated, “This presentation brilliantly demonstrates how Picasso vitalized the medium with characteristic enthusiasm and originality." Decades later, Picasso's ceramic items continue to rise in both rarity and prestige and remained coveted by private collectors.

Dated 1954