Poteries de Picasso, Mourlot Lithograph, 1959 (after the 1948 Exhibition Poster)

A lithograph after Picasso's poster for his first major exhibition of ceramics, held at the Maison de la Pensée Française in Paris from 27 November 1948 to 5 January 1949. The show introduced the public to the pottery he had begun making at the Madoura workshop in Vallauris only a year or so earlier, a body of work that would come to occupy him for the rest of his life. The design is pure Picasso playfulness. A single spiralling line becomes a face, with two round eyes and a small pointed beak, so that it reads as an owl, a bird, or simply a joyful doodle. Above and below the image, his hand-cut lettering in white stands out against blocks of warm terracotta brown, the colour of fired clay. This is a plate from Les Affiches Originales des Maîtres de l'École de Paris, published in 1959, for which the Mourlot workshop re-printed celebrated posters by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, Braque and others in reduced format by lithography. The printer's credit "Mourlot Imp. Paris" appears at the foot of the design, and the plate number 59 is printed in the lower right corner of the sheet. The work is in overall good condition and has been newly framed in an oak frame with anti-reflective glazing. Please enjoy the many images accompanying this listing. Upon request a video will be provided.

Dimensions with Frame:

H 46.2 cm / 18.2"

W 37.6 cm / 14.8"

Dimensions without Frame:

H 31 cm / 12.2"

W 23 cm / 9.1"

About Mourlot: Founded in Paris in 1852, the Mourlot workshop became the most celebrated lithography studio of the 20th century under Fernand Mourlot, printing for Matisse, Chagall, Braque and Miró. Picasso worked there closely from 1945 onwards, and the studio produced many of his finest lithographs and exhibition posters.