On Friday, the new exhibition of the museum “Picasso ceramics. Jacqueline’s gift to Barcelona” will be open to the public. The exhibition is organised on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the donation that Jacqueline Picasso made to the city of Barcelona of 41 original pieces of ceramics in 1982 and that form part of the Collection of the museum.

Owl. Picasso, 1957 – Spanish plate

For the first time in the last 20 years this selection of pieces is being exhibited to the public in its entirety and will be accompanied by documentation from the period and other pieces by Picasso.  Many of the pieces exhibited are usually put on show within the framework of the permanent Collection of the museum and have been relocated from rooms 15 and 16 to the new exhibition.

Moving the ceramic pieces to the exhibition

The museography chosen is inspired by the design of the still lifes, with a treatment of the light that opts for darkening the upper part of the glass cabinet and with a certain theatricality in the collection of the ceramics, some of which are hung from metallic structures.

For the setting up, given that the ceramic is an extremely delicate material, models of cardboard and photographs were created which were used to locate the pieces and prepare the lighting of the room.  In this way, the original pieces are handled as little as possible and unnecessary risks are avoided.

Cardboard models of the ceramic plates

Checking the lighting and the structures from which the ceramic plates are hung

When she was young, Jacqueline had worked as a salesperson for the Madoura pottery in Vallauris, where she met Picasso. Her link with the pottery and its owners, Suzanne and Georges Ramié, establishes an important identification between the ceramics and the relation of Jacqueline with the artist, and therefore, with this donation. At the start of the exhibition there are 12 photographs that immortalise this relation between Picasso and Jacqueline with the pottery; from the images of the artist working on the ceramics to the first photo of this particular family together.

The exhibition will be held from 26th October to 1st April 2013.

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