PABLO PICASSO MADOURA - A 1940s silver pendant
£1,250
Auction: 3 June 2015 at 12:00 BST
Description
of circular outline depicting a woman's face, signed to the reverse MADOURA EMPRENTE ORIGINALE DE PICASSO, suspended from a belcher link chain
Dimensions
Diameter: 30mm, combined weight: 32.4g
Footnote
Picasso throughout his life had a prolific output of paintings, sculptures, etchings, and ceramics. His career spanned nearly 80 years and when he died at age 91 in April 1973; he had become one of the most successful artists in history. His personal life also caused much intrigue, having separated from his first wife; he was able to entertain his muses better. Throughout the 1930s and 40s Picasso entertained principally two women, Marie-Therese Walter and Dora Maar. Maar originally a photographer and a painter expressed her art alongside Picasso. Upon her death in 1997 in her possessions were items such as pendants, a watch-ring and brooch, into which Picasso inserted miniature portraits, mostly of Maar. A collection such as this shows how Picasso began to crossover in to other mediums of art and how he incorporated his personal life into his work. It is difficult to say whether this silver pendant with the depiction of a woman’s face, is that of Dora Maar but this pendant from the 1940s coincides with their affair.
The 1940s also saw Picasso visit an annual pottery exhibition at Vallauris. Picasso developed a friendship with the owners, Suzanne and George Ramié and returned to work there on his own designs until the 1960s. This Signature on the reverse Madoura Emprente Origniale de Picasso is the cast made by Picasso to acknowledge the Potters studio translating as original imprint of Picasso at Madoura. This pendant shows that Picasso was keen to explore other mediums for his art before his commercial collaborations with jewellery designer François Hugo which occurred in the late ’50s and ’60s