Sujet Poisson by Pablo Picasso, red earthenware pitcher, decorated with engobe, 500 copies produced. Marked “Edition Picasso Madoura” and stamped “Edition Picasso” and “Madoura” under the base, restoration to the spout.
After World War II, Picasso became increasingly interested in sculpture and ceramics, and from 1946 onward he collaborated with the Madoura workshop, which became the exclusive publisher of his ceramic work.
Picasso left behind an important body of work, in which the artist's poetry and expressive genius come together, as in this fish jug that we are presenting. There is a sublime relationship between the utilitarian, the pitcher, and the subject, the fish, and a tension between container and content. Picasso chose red clay and black decoration, a clear reference to the art of ancient ceramics, particularly Greek. The refined form illustrates his constant search for simplicity and formal truth, which he summed up in his famous phrase: “It took me a lifetime to learn to draw like a child.”
This “Picassian” minimalism, both archaic and poetic, finds a privileged medium of expression in ceramics.
In this fish-shaped jug, Picasso transcends the utilitarian object to create an icon at the crossroads of decorative art and fine arts.
