Picasso on a plate: unseen ceramics up for auction

Emblematic motifs from Picasso's artistic universe -- pigeons, fish, a goat, a bull, and a bird adorn the colourful plates and dishes.

"It's a truly exceptional collection. The plates and dishes we have here are real Picasso works," Bernard Piguet, director of the Piguet auction house in Geneva, told AFP.

"These unique pieces belonged to Picasso's estate, and in the early 1980s, his heirs gave them to one of their friends," he said.

The close friend, a French art lover whose name has not been revealed, kept them until his death. His heirs have decided to put the ceramics up for sale.

Made between 1947 and 1963 in the Madoura workshop in Vallauris on the southeast French coast, the ceramic artworks are being exhibited to the general public for the first time ahead of Thursday's auction.
'Reasonable' prices
The seven pieces are being sold in separate lots.

Two large platters decorated with pigeons are both expected to fetch between 30,000 and 50,000 Swiss francs ($37,000-$61,500).

A third plate depicting three blue, pink, and brick-coloured fish on a white background, resembling a child's drawing, is estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 francs.

A thin brick, titled "Head of a Bearded Man", and painted with ceramic pastels in yellow, white, garnet, brown, blue orange and green, has the same estimate.

Glazed on a painted background in shades of grey, brown, and black, a terracotta plate depicting a goat's head bears the prestigious stamp "Original Picasso print" on the back. It is valued at 20,000-30,000 francs.

The two others feature a bull on a hexagonal terracotta tile (15,000-20,000 francs), and a stylised bird on a plate painted in black and white (15,000-25,000 francs).

"It's a lot," Piguet said of the price. "But don't forget that these are works of art in their own right and unique pieces" without replicas.

"If you step back from Picasso's work and his drawings, which are becoming practically unaffordable today, you have here original works by Picasso that command a reasonable estimate."
New outlet
Picasso was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. The prolific Spanish painter died in 1973, aged 91.

He created thousands of plates, platters, vases, pitchers, and other earthenware utensils in the Madoura ceramics studio, run by the pottery couple Georges and Suzanne Ramie.

After World War II, "Picasso was already an internationally-renowned artist," said Adeline Bisch Balerna, head of paintings and sculptures at Piguet.

"He had already opened up a huge number of avenues for all artists; the great, well-known works had been created, and he was seeking new means of expression for his art."

Picasso would visit the Madoura studio, meet Georges Ranie, and be "captivated by all the possibilities offered" by this new artistic outlet, she explained.

Piguet is also auctioning two Picasso works "never before seen on the art market", from the same family friend's collection: "Serenade" (1919), an Indian ink and watercolour painting estimated at 20,000-30,000 francs, and the pencil drawing "Famille balzacienne" (1962), valued at 80,000-120,000 francs.
Unseen Klein
Meanwhile the contemporary art in Thursday's sale includes one of French artist Yves Klein's first blue monochromes, in what is its first appearance on the art market, according to Piguet auction house.

From 1959, "Monochrome bleu sans titre (IKB 328)", estimated at 100,000-150,000 francs, is painted in International Klein Blue, the deep blue hue developed by the artist himself.

"In daylight, it really has this luminous blue, this completely fascinating Klein blue. And when you put it indoors, you see it as a dark blue, almost midnight blue," said Bernard Piguet.

Klein died in 1962 aged 34, following a series of heart attacks.

The work comes from the collection of the Swiss artist couple Muriel and Gerald Minkoff, who liked to exchange their works with their contemporaries.

It was discovered by their successors in their Geneva apartment, according to Piguet.