This “engraved bottle” has a three-dimensional design, wrapping around the girth of the vessel. The refined palette has been extended to its fullest possibilities, employing both gloss and matte glazes to create differing depths of black, and with a rustic method of engraving to the surface to achieve the playful sense of line, thereby animating the smiling faces therein.
As David Sylvester wrote in his 1960 article, published on the occasion of Picasso’s great retrospective at the Tate Gallery: “The need to isolate often governs Picasso’s use of colour… the absence of variety in the colour helps to isolate qualities of form. Thus, black-and-white tends to be used in ambitious and complex compositions like Atelier de la modiste, Guernica, The Charnel House, and the first Meninas.”
A visit to the New York apartment of Dr. Arthur and Mrs. Anita Kahn provided any visitor with a true celebration for the senses. During a lifetime of collecting, these dedicated connoisseurs assembled one of the most remarkable collections of Pablo Picasso ceramics and works on paper, and postwar American art. From their significant holdings of the work of Alexander Calder to Richard Pousette-Dart’s crowning glory, his 1958 painting Blood Wedding—the collection captures the energy and excitement of this important period. Though the couple came from humble beginnings—he, the son of an immigrant candy store owner, and she, the daughter of a seamstress—their interest in, and admiration for, the creative process led them to be rewarded with a collection that encompassed some of the most important artists of the postwar period. From Alexander Calder to Pablo Picasso, and David Smith to Stuart Davis, their holdings of art demonstrated an astute understanding of the creative process and their sheer joy at the works in their collection.
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