Suite of Nine Tipped-In Color Lithographs from Céramiques de Picasso, 1948 — Pablo Picasso

Suite of Nine Picasso Ceramic Lithographs — Céramiques de Picasso, Albert Skira, Geneva, 1948

After Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)

A remarkable suite of nine original tipped-in color plates from Céramiques de Picasso, published by Albert Skira, Geneva, in 1948. These exquisite lithographs reproduce some of Picasso’s earliest and most experimental ceramic works, created in collaboration with the Madoura Pottery studio in Vallauris, France, immediately following World War II.

Printed by Atelier Mourlot Frères, Paris, the plates are masterfully rendered in color photolithography with pochoir enhancements, replicating the depth, brushwork, and glaze of the original earthenware forms. Each piece captures Picasso’s fascination with the tactile and sculptural — merging painting, pottery, and drawing in a new post-war vocabulary of form and color.

Subjects include Picasso’s signature sun and moon visages, fish and bird compositions, and mythological and pastoral studies, representing key motifs from his early ceramic period (1946–1948). The works exude the warmth and spontaneity of the Vallauris years — a time when Picasso redefined his artistic language through clay and surface.

Each plate is tipped in along the upper edge onto its original wove paper support, as issued, and professionally float-mounted under museum-quality UV glass in custom walnut frames. The suite’s unified presentation offers a museum-level installation that highlights both the individual artistry and collective harmony of Picasso’s ceramic imagination. 

Details

• Artist: After Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
• Title: Suite of Nine Plates from “Céramiques de Picasso”
• Medium: Original tipped-in color photolithographs (pochoir-enhanced heliogravures) on wove paper
• Printer: Atelier Mourlot Frères, Paris
• Publisher: Albert Skira, Geneva
• Date: 1948
• Period of Original Work: 1946–1948 (Picasso’s early Vallauris ceramics)
• Edition: From the first and only edition of Céramiques de Picasso (1948)
• Framing: Float-mounted in custom walnut frames under museum-quality UV glass
• Dimensions: [insert dimensions per frame or overall installation width/height]
• Condition: Excellent vintage condition with light, even toning consistent with age

Provenance

Private collection, France

Acquired from an early postwar bibliophile collection of Skira publications, Paris 

Exhibition & Literature

• Céramiques de Picasso, Albert Skira, Geneva, 1948 (complete illustrated volume)
• Musée Magnelli, Vallauris: Picasso, Céramiques et Gravures, 1998
• Alain Ramié, Picasso: Catalogue of the Edited Ceramic Works 1947–1971, Madoura Pottery

Notes

The 1948 Céramiques de Picasso marks the first major publication devoted exclusively to Picasso’s ceramic output, preceding his later, more widely distributed Madoura editions. The plates were printed directly from high-quality photographs taken at Vallauris and subsequently hand-finished through the pochoir process to emulate the subtle glazing and tonal variation of the originals.

Each plate serves as both documentation and standalone work of art — a vital record of Picasso’s transition from painter to potter, from two-dimensional surface to sculptural expression.