Head of a Woman

‘As Picasso’s mastery of the technique of ceramics increased he began to use more complex supports, abandoning the early use of plates. In this case the support becomes an integral part of the work in a unique process of appropriation of forms on the artist’s part. One of the most interesting variants would be Picasso’s use of previously made pieces, from which he created zoomorphic or anthropomorphic figures. Head of a Woman is based on a fired white clay vase with two handles designed by Suzanne Ramié. Picasso applied slips and oxides and made further small interventions such as incisions. As is habitual with his works of this type he used very few colours. For his female figures he employed a range of different solutions to complete the upper part of the pieces, painting a hair bun or simply some decoration to suggest a hair ornament or small piece of headwear, as in this case. The handles are often ambivalent and in the casse of an owl could be used to suggest the flapping of the wings, or hair plaits in the case of a woman [1]. Picasso was able to subvert this process of mental association and used vessels of this specific type to transform them into owls or fauns, as we see in other examples.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Owl with Head of a faun, Vallauris, autumn 1947. Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso. Photo: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga © Succession Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2025

Although he first started working in ceramics in the mid-1940s, around 1902-3 he executed various drawings of anthropomorphic ceramics, particularly women’s bodies [2]. At that period he could have seen examples of Gauguin’s ceramic sculptures of a similar type in the sculptor Paco Durrio’s studio. Picasso always kept these works by Gauguin very much in mind, with their reminiscences of ancient cultures such as classical Greece and South America. Such ancient works generally had decorative functions or were associated with ceremonial practices such as fertility rites.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Bust of a Woman with Arms Crossed, Barcelona, 1902. Museu Picasso, Barcelona. Gift of Pablo Picasso, 1970. © Museu Picasso, Barcelona. Fotogasull © Succession Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2025

The sensuality and humour present in them was also significant. In addition, the forms of jugs, vases and vessels possess an intrinsic sensuality, with their emphatic forms that lent themselves to interpretation in a female mode. Finally, there is Picasso’s need to play and imprint his personal stamp through a visual twist or game, an approach arising from the very core of his artistic personality and which is particularly evident in his ceramic pieces’ [3].

[1] THEIL, Harald. «Les vases plastiques de Picasso». In: GAUDICHON, Bruno and Joséphine Matamoros. Picasso céramiste et la Méditerranée [Exh. Cat. Centre d’Art des Pénitents Noirs (Aubagne), 2013]. Paris: Gallimard, 2013, p. 68.

[2] Among others, Bust of a Woman with Her Arms Crossed of 1902 in the Museu Picasso, Barcelona (MPB 110.451)

[3] Eduard Valles in: LEBRERO, José. Pablo Picasso: New Collection, 2017-2020. [Exh. Cat. Museo Picasso Málaga, 2017]. Malaga: Museo Picasso Málaga, 2017, pp. 326-327.