Grand vase aux femmes voilées (A.R. 116)

Grand vase aux femme voilées is a breathtaking and highly sought after work in Picasso’s oeuvre, capturing the artist’s revolutionary use of the ceramic medium. The notable scale of this vase, one of the tallest in Picasso’s ceramic output, reinforces the powerful presence and prized nature of this work.

Adorning the front cover of Alain Ramié’s catalogue raisonné, this work is a rare piece that takes centre stage in Picasso’s output, inviting all ceramic enthusiasts to explore the artist’s wide and rich production astutely relayed in Ramié’s volume. We discover four female silhouettes around the vase, each presented in different poses, some with their hair cascading down, another with her locks tied in an elegant chignon. Only one woman looks towards the viewer, her gaze inviting us into the composition as she rests her left arm on her neighbour’s shoulder and raises her other arm to caress her chevelure.

Harmony of form is accompanied by harmony of colour palette throughout; the dark tones of the women’s black hair are echoed in the ground around the base and the varying hues of orange, pink and ochre recall the terracotta medium. The artist’s ceramic works are rich in both texture and technique, combining a mixture of exciting brushstrokes with partial engraving. The terracotta is often left untouched for areas of the figure’s bodies, creating a parallel between the bareness of the vase’s raw material and the nudity of their skin. The warmth of this medium breathes further life into this exquisite object.

The artist draws on the timelessness of the amphorae works crafted and used by ancient civilisations and revises these forms through his radical brushwork, colour selection and high value contrasts. As alluded to in the work’s title, three of the four women wear a copper and black speckled veil that drapes across their bodies. The transparency of the chiffon fabric has been exquisitely rendered via a thin veil of coloured engobe, experimenting with the viscosity of the engobe medium. Picasso has emphasised the female forms via the curvaceous silhouette of the vase itself, harnessing the possibilities of the ceramic surface and shape to achieve a symbiosis between the composition and its three-dimensional canvas. The iconography of this work recalls The Three Graces in Graeco-Roman classical imagery, a motif that has inspired artists across time periods and artistic movements. The female forms were also likely inspired by Picasso’s then companion, Françoise Gilot.