Pablo Picasso admired the work of the Madoura Pottery Factory while summering in Vallauris, a town in the south of France. With the help of owner Suzanne Ramie, he began in 1947 to explore ceramics as a new artistic medium, returning to Madoura’s studio regularly for the next 25 years. Through these collaborations, Picasso ultimately created more than 600 designs for plates, bowls, vases, and jugs, all hand-painted and sold in limited editions of varying size. Picasso’s favorite themes—bullfights, animals, still lifes, and Cubist faces—take on new and colorful energy in these works. Round white plate with a bull fight scene in relief on black with black globs around the plate rim.
71.1060