Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 13

Pablo Picasso
Gros oiseau Picasso (Large Bird, Picasso), 1953

1953

About the Item

Created in 1953, this Madoura big turned vase of white earthenware clay with decoration in engobes and paraffin (red, black), knife engraved is numbered from the edition of 75. This Picasso ceramic vase is stamped with the 'MADOURA PLEIN FEU' and 'EMPREINTE ORIGINALE DE PICASSO' pottery stamps on the bottom. A spectacular work to witness in person, Pablo Picasso Gros oiseau Picasso (Large Bird, Picasso), 1953 is a rare offering that provides a multidimensional experience. Painted in a fiery terracotta hue that recalls the natural color of red earthenware clay, this grandiose vase pays homage to Picasso's efforts in the ceramic medium. The artist displays the history of the ceramic medium in this work, employing a palette of black, white, and red that recalls the colors used in Greek antiquity, while his playful geometric decorations are a less obvious nod to his ceramic predecessors.  The form of this vase is one Picasso only used four times across his oeuvre of Madoura ceramic editions, an anthropomorphic and modernized version of the classical Hydria. Whimsical details in forms of polka dots and repetitious stripes provide elements of interest, while illuminating this ceramic vase's extraordinary shape. On the front of the vase, we see the artist's stylized signature, and on the reverse he proudly states the location of the pottery studio and the date with bold white lines, knife engraved. Catalogue Raisonné: Pablo Picasso Large Bird, Picasso (Gros oiseau Picasso), 1953 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices accompanying the final sale of the work): 1.  Ramié, Alain. Picasso Catalogue of the edited ceramic works 1947-1971. Madoura: 1988. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 185.
  • Creator:
    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973, Spanish)
  • Creation Year:
    1953
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 22.63 in (57.49 cm)Width: 18.32 in (46.54 cm)Depth: 15.57 in (39.55 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Palo Alto, CA
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 75391stDibs: LU156728570482
More From This SellerView All
  • Curly Haired Face (Visage aux cheveux bouclés), 1968-1969
    By Pablo Picasso
    Located in Palo Alto, CA
    This exquisite ceramic impression captures the face of a man. With textured curls cascading down the side of his face and a thin defined nose with wide gazing eyes, he appears to be ...
    Category

    1960s Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Earthenware, Ceramic

  • Iboya, NBC 36
    By Victor Vasarely
    Located in Palo Alto, CA
    The Hungarian word, Iboya, meaning a small forest violet, has been chosen by Vasarely to identify his astonishing series of vertical sculptures for intereior use. The Iboya consist ...
    Category

    1970s Op Art Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Polystyrene, Wood

  • Iboya, NBC 35
    By Victor Vasarely
    Located in Palo Alto, CA
    The Hungarian word, Iboya, meaning a small forest violet, has been chosen by Vasarely to identify his astonishing series of vertical sculptures for intereior use. The Iboya consist ...
    Category

    1970s Op Art Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Polystyrene, Wood

  • Iboya, NBC 35 and NBC 36
    By Victor Vasarely
    Located in Palo Alto, CA
    The Hungarian word, Iboya, meaning a small forest violet, has been chosen by Vasarely to identify his astonishing series of vertical sculptures for interior use. The Iboya consist o...
    Category

    1970s Op Art Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Polystyrene, Wood

  • Linienspiel (Line Game)
    By Victor Vasarely
    Located in Palo Alto, CA
    This original Plexiglas with linen is numbered 5/20 in black pen in the lower left on one side. An unexpected energy is conveyed by the broken black and white lines respectively por...
    Category

    1970s Op Art Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Lucite, Plexiglass, Screen

  • Helios, 1967
    By Victor Vasarely
    Located in Palo Alto, CA
    This magnificent work by Victor Vasarely displays an intricate interplay of green optical figures against a clear background in a three-dimensional medium. It offers a fascinating vi...
    Category

    1960s Op Art Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Plexiglass, Screen

You May Also Like
  • "Cube II", Dessin/volume folding sculpture
    Located in Brussels, BE
    Origami/kinetic artpiece, folds completely flat. Provides a fun and strong visual illusion , with a feeling of jelly. Signed and numbered 1/6, dated 2020. Led pedestal comes extra. It is optional, but recommended (looks wonderful in darkness). It can be taylor made...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Varnish, ABS

  • Title What’s Behind the Mask?
    By Shelley Heffler
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    Shelley Heffler was born and raised in the Bronx. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York where she studied interior design, followed by a Bachelor’s Degree in Art. She graduated from Cal State Northridge with a Master’s degree in fine art followed by a teaching credential. She traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia photographing...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Vinyl, ABS

  • Bush Wren (Model)
    By Elizabeth Turk
    Located in New York, NY
    3D FDM print, ABS filament, with graphene-base white paint
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    ABS

  • Pig Pile
    Located in Los Angeles, CA
    Joe Davidson’s recent body of work consists of interlocking forms stacked one on top of another. Upon closer inspection, one can see the remnants of the ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Plaster, ABS

  • Untitled Sunflower Bouquet Sculpture
    Located in Los Angeles, CA
    The sunflower and the bouquet is an idea that has been floating around in the artist's head for years. It starts with the notion of the still life, the most basic subject when approaching visual art. It's the attempt to look at that which is full of life, yet by acknowledging its existence, one understands that beauty is temporary and will fade. This series starts with the flower, the symbol of fleeing beauty. By taking this character and turning it into a cast object, the artist has turned it into an icon, further removed from reality by bleeding it of color. The sunflowers then become beautiful shadows their former selves, as dying coral becomes enticing when it bleaches. They are elegant reminders of their past, whilst also becoming new figures that reference archaic notes of classical beauty expressed monochromatic hues. STATEMENT In the end, gravity always wins. It is the blunt, immutable force that has a constant effect, keeping us on the ground and ultimately pulling us into it. Sculpture by its very nature is in conversation with this pull, at times enjoying and acknowledging it, and at times trying to hide and defy it. My work recognizes the force of gravity, sometimes tacitly and sometimes overtly. It is a practice of mixing the delicate with the ordinary. I have been mining the contrasts of sculpture, relishing the materiality while also attempting to address the ephemeral. Because sculpture is so heavily rooted in the ground, one has to accept its materiality. Yet, some of the most effective work I have witnessed is that which attempts transcendence. It is that steady push and pull between mass and lightness, solidity and absence, form and void. Additionally, I am drawn towards familiar objects and associations that are embedded within them. Current work makes reference to visual anchors such as bodily forms, sagging, or bloating. Whether the product is a still life created in Scotch tape or a bouquet composed of plaster flowers, I look to the fantastic as a goal in my work. The work is intensely representational in content but without clearly assigned meaning, thus creating a disquiet. In this way I think in a surrealist vein, looking to traditional figures like Eva Hesse and Piero Manzoni, and contemporary figures like Robert Gober and Matthew Barney. The juxtaposition of the seemingly simple streamline objects with this disquiet adds a powerful force to the work, again symbolic of the contrast between the emotional life which defines us as humans and the compulsions and minutia that compose our daily lives. Joe Davidson
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Wire

  • Wood wall sculpture: 'Hoover'
    By Loren Eiferman
    Located in New York, NY
    I want the viewer to have a sense of wonder and awe when looking at my work. We have all at one point or another picked up a stick from the ground—touched the wood, peeled the bark ...
    Category

    2010s Folk Art Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Metal

Recently Viewed

View All