Pablo Picasso’s The New Beginnings Exhibited in the II Palaces

The exhibition halls of the Rector’s Palace will be hosting another great exhibition until 5th October. It concerns the great Picasso and his exhibition The New Beginnings that covers the selection of his most significant works from The Lake Collection with 230 original ceramics, graphics art and posters such as Picasso motifs of Jacqueline, the famous homage to Vallauris, mythical fauna, fish, goats, owls and his interpretations of the dove as a symbol of peace, bull, birds, still life and many other.

The New Beginnings actually represents a selection from the collection The Lake Collection consisting of more than 80 pieces of Picasso ceramics, and 150 original graphics art, and posters that connect with the topic of Picasso’s ceramics works from Vallauris. The exhibition is co-organized by the Zadar National Museum and Peculiar Events j.d.o.o., and is officially open from 10th June.  

- It is an exhibition that contains a number of objects from the opus of his later life, which is the reason for it being called A New Beginning for at his age of 60 odd years he moved into a medium which had been unknown to him until then. He could not create a painting and a sculpture in one which was offered by ceramics– said the curator of the National Museum, Ivana Dražić.

David Rjazancev, a collector from Slovenia, and at the same time the organizer of the exhibition, said that he had agreed with the owner of the Picasso ceramics collection to make it live and be presented in museums around the world. 

- We have chosen some of the most important pieces for Zadar. We have also exhibited posters for his exhibitions which we gathered from other collections and they refer to his works from 1946 to 1973 when Picasso died– he pointed out.

Otherwise, there are very interesting stories behind all the exhibited items. Despite his great world and historical success, Pablo Picasso was constantly looking for new ways of artistic expression. Following the Second World War, in 1946 to be exact, while travelling in southern France, he found himself in the city of Vallauris where he was enchanted by the ceramics made in the Madoura Atelier whose owners were Suzanne and Georges Ramie with whom he soon made friends. It became a partnership that also gave birth to one of the most fruitful Picasso periods. Picasso designed 633 different ceramics editions in the period between 1947 and 1971. He started decorating simple utilitarian objects, followed by more complex artistic and functional forms. He liked the fact that ceramics are aesthetically pleasing and at the same time functional. 

- The symbol of the city of Antibes, where Picasso had created a part of his opus, is the owl which Picasso replicated in many of his works. That part of his opus is significant for the manipulation in ceramics that he achieved by creating metamorphosis from a jug, i.e. transformation into an animal. He achieves the dimension, i.e. depth of the ceramics by using contrast colors - Dražić said at the exhibition opening.

When he started creating ceramics in Madoura Atelier, he wished for all the items arising from that collaboration to be accessible and approachable to the general public. Some of the works were produced in editions of 500 or more objects that could be bought in the workshop. Even today those works are accessible and approachable to the general public at art galleries, auctions or even in the private market.

All the ceramics made during this partnership bear the seal or mark that can be found on the back, on the side or on the front of the item. The edition numeration can be found on some of the items. The seals and marks found on the ceramics depend on the edition in question as well as the time they were made for they changed in time. 

- The fact is that in a few years he created more than 3,500 original items, and tens of thousands of ceramics went into the world for Picasso to be present in the home of a man who could not afford to have his paintings. Even during his lifetime, he could exchange one of his paintings for a house in the south of France, making this a way for him to be reached by the general population–curator Dražić explained to us.