Dove on straw bed, rectangular dish
1949
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
4.0 × 37.5 × 31.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2019
© Sucession Picasso/Copyright Agency
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This early work is part of a series of rectangular dishes decorated with white doves seated on straw within a window. Picasso decorated these works on a standard factory form designed by Suzanne Ramie, owner of the Madoura Pottery, a shape that he employed many times over the years for a broad range of decorative subjects. Picasso’s genius at capturing the life force of an animal is seen through the soft texturing of the dove’s feathers, as expressed in the faint white glaze that he deftly incised through into the white clay body, to give life, form and volume.