Original Picasso Ceramic entitled “Face with Leaves” (“Visage aux Feuilles”), 1956.
Round plate, diameter 42cm (27- 1/5”)
Material: White Earthenware Clay
Numbered: 18/100
Documented and illustrated in Ramié, Alain: Picasso Catalogue of the edited ceramic works 1947-71, published 1988, listed as Cat no. 323 on page 324; and Bloch 98.
Few people are aware that Picasso was a master ceramist and between the years 1946-1971 created thousands of ceramic pieces. Many were produced in limited editions and with the exclusive rights held by Madoura Pottery in the town of Vallauris in Southern France, under the direction of Suzanne and Georges Ramié. Here Picasso met and married Jacqueline, a saleswoman at Madoura. While Picasso was not new to working in ceramics, by 1946 he fully embraced the medium that allowed him to explore sculpture and painting at the same time. Gifted with earth from a region that yielded excellent clay, Vallauris had been an important ceramics producing locale from the early Roman times.
There has been an ever rising interest in Picasso’s ceramics, culminating in the Madoura Collection Christie’s Auction in London, June 2012 which raised over $12.5 million, quadrupling expectations. As these items are no longer being made, and Madoura has closed it’s doors, they can only increase in rarity and continue to grow in value.