Pablo Picasso’s Femme du barbu of 1953 is a playful fusion of delicate femininity and utilitarian pottery, rendered in earthen glazes and red Vallauris clay. A female visage emerges from the front face of the pitcher, while flowing lines follow the bulbous body, accentuating its shape. Testament to Picasso’s unique artistic vision, the harmony between ornamentation and form makes Femme du barbu a compelling example of Picasso’s enduring relationship with pottery, embracing the changes within the kiln as a form of creative liberation.
Working within the ancient Mediterranean tradition, Picasso fused antiquity into his everyday practice. The stylistic lineage of archaic vocabulary reinvigorated his modern ceramics, often echoing the formal elements of Greek and Roman pitchers. While referencing ancient tradition, the artist infused his playful personality into his ceramics creating a style in clay that was at once reminiscent of a bygone era but distinctly and recognisably "Picasso". Replicating the pursed lips and elongated handle of the ancient pitcher, Picasso then accentuated its curvature while exaggerating the protuberant body, replacing the decorative motifs in clay with a decorative face in glaze.
Left: Terracotta jug, 1st century BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1943
Right: Pablo Picasso, Hommage à Bacchus (Homage to Bacchus), 1960, Lot 27, Pablo Picasso: Paper and Clay, 6 June 2024The motif of a "bearded man" has appeared in many of Picasso’s works, often taking the form of mythological fauns and satyrs. Explored in both ceramic and print, Picasso was entranced by Greek bacchanalia, where drunken bodies come together in celebration. Therefore, in entitling this piece "Femme de barbu", Picasso implies that the woman depicted is perhaps mythological, inspired by an ancient fable. Picasso also probed ancient sources such as Ovid’s Metamophoses (8 AD) that told stories of inanimate objects transforming into enlivened entities, embodied here in the anthropomorphic transformation of a jug into the form of a female visage. Furthermore, Picasso’s ceramics additionally speak to the notion of transformation itself. Inconsistent shifting from one state to another – malleable to solid, clay to ceramic, human to object – reflecting the unpredictable nature of the firing process. In this way, Picasso’s continual conversation with classical imagery was not a retreat into antiquity, but a reassertion that objects from the past have a living presence.
Provenance
Private American Collection
Phillips, New York, Evening Editions Including a Collection of Important Picasso Ceramics, 25 April 2012, lot 6
Acquired at the above sale by the present ownerLiterature
Alain Ramié 193
Artist Biography
Pablo Picasso
Spanish • 1881 - 1973
One of the most dominant and influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was a master of endless reinvention. While significantly contributing to the movements of Surrealism, Neoclassicism and Expressionism, he is best known for pioneering the groundbreaking movement of Cubism alongside fellow artist Georges Braque in the 1910s. In his practice, he drew on African and Iberian visual culture as well as the developments in the fast-changing world around him.
Throughout his long and prolific career, the Spanish-born artist consistently pushed the boundaries of art to new extremes. Picasso's oeuvre is famously characterized by a radical diversity of styles, ranging from his early forays in Cubism to his Classical Period and his later more gestural expressionist work, and a diverse array of media including printmaking, drawing, ceramics and sculpture as well as theater sets and costumes designs.
16
Femme du barbu (Bearded Man's Wife) (A.R. 193)
1953
White earthenware turned pitcher painted in colours with partial brushed glaze.
39.5 x 20 x 28 cm (15 1/2 x 7 7/8 x 11 in.)
From the edition of 500, with the Madoura Plein Feu and Edition Picasso pottery stamps on the underside.
Estimate
£20,000 - 30,000 ‡♠
Sold for £40,640
EditionsLondon@Phillips.com
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Rebecca Tooby-Desmond
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Senior International Specialist, Editions
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Louisa Earl
Associate Specialist, Editions
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Pablo Picasso: Paper and Clay
London Auction 6 June 2024
27
This lot is no longer available.
