Picasso, Pablo: Bullfight on Eight Plates (1959)

The artist started to make ceramics after 1946. In 1948 he moved to Vallauris, a small town in the South of France, famed for its pottery tradition. He made his works at the local Madoura manufactory. Though he moved from the town in 1955, he kept in contact with Madoura. Between 1946 and his death, he made some 4000 original ceramic wares. This series, property of the Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung, is made up of the type of plates he produced in the greatest quantities. Animals, bulls included, were frequent motifs in these works. Bullfighting was a theme PICASSO particularly liked, perhaps as a tradition related to his native land. The series presents the event in eight images, from the entry to the arena (Paseo), through the waving of the cloak (Banderillero), the goring (Cogida), and the stab with the sword (Estocado), to the dragging of the slaughtered bull (Arresto). The visual motifs used here also appear in other works, sometimes in entire series, at other times in single works. The ground is unglazed terracotta, against which the raised figures appear in black glaze. The colouring bears witness to the influence of Greek vase-painting on Picasso; nor was he immune to the Arabic inspiration present in Spanish ceramics. Nevertheless, his ceramic works are as original as his paintings.

B. A.