Corrida on black ground, rectangular dish
(1953)
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
3.6 × 37.6 × 31.2 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by John and Cecily Adams, 2017
© Sucession Picasso/Copyright Agency
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
From 1954 to 1960, Vallauris staged an annual corrida, or bull fight, in honour of Picasso. A portable ring with room for thousands of spectators was brought from Arles and set up in the big square. The festival began on the Saturday night with comic bullfights, clowns, and an array of entertainment that brought a whole new kind of public spectacle to the local community – quite unfamiliar with the world of the bullfight. The main bullfights took place on the Sunday afternoon, though they were only sham bullfights, the matadors having blunted lances and the bulls only half-grown. Nevertheless, a number of famous matadors visited to pay homage and Picasso himself presided over the whole festival. The corrida became an important theme in Picasso’s ceramics and one that he returned to regularly between 1953 and 1959. This dish is an early example, the date incised into the black glaze of the rim is ‘25.9.53’.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Vallauris, France
Edition
edition of 500
Inscription
impressed in base l.l.: MADOURA / (fire) / PLEIN / FEU
impressed in base l.l.: D'APRES / PICASSO
painted in black on base c.r.: EDITION / PICASSO
Accession Number
2017.210
Department
International Decorative Arts