50 unique works of art from the collections of the Musée National Picasso in Paris, on display at MIC Faenza from November 1st 2019 to April 13th 2020 in dialogue with the sources that inspired the artist
50 unique pieces from the collections of the Musée National Picasso-Paris will be on display at the MIC in Faenza, from 1 November 2019 to 13 April 2020, in the great exhibition “Picasso. The challenge of ceramics” curated by Harald Theil and Salvador Haro with the collaboration of Claudia Casali. A nucleus of inestimable value and an exceptional loan that faces the whole creative path of the Spanish artist towards clay.
The exhibition in Faenza will analyse the sources of inspiration of Picasso, starting from the artefacts of the MIC collections. The Classical ceramics, with its black and red figures, the Etruscan bucchero, the Spanish and Italian popular ceramics, the 15th century Italian incised decoration, the iconography of the Mediterranean area characterized by fish, fantastic animals, owls and birds, and the prehispanic terracottas will be in a fertile and unique dialogue with Picasso’s ceramics.
A special section will be dedicated to the relationship between Picasso and Faenza. The International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza owns several pieces by Picasso thanks to the intercession of Tullio Mazzotti of Albisola, Gio Ponti and the Ramié couple. All of them asked the Master for some works of art to show in Faenza, but, above all, they asked him to support the reconstruction of the Museum Modern Ceramic collections, destroyed in the terrible Allied bombardment of May 1944. Everything started from Gaetano Ballardini, first director and founder of the Faenza Museum, who contacted Picasso in Madoura with a moving and touching letter. And just like that, the first oval plate representing the Dove of Peace, a memento against all wars, arrived in 1950. It was expressly dedicated to the Museum of Faenza and to the tragic destiny of its collection and building. Other dishes followed in 1951 with faun heads, then vases with archaic and archaeological inspiration and the large vase “The four seasons” (1951), incised and painted with the representation of four female figures whose sinuous forms are substantiated by the curvature of the vase.
The exhibition will be enriched with documents and photographs, never exhibited before, and belonging to the historical MIC archive. The didactic and photographic apparatus will be completed by the historical video “Picasso in Vallauris” by Luciano Emmer, made in 1954.
The exhibition is part of “Picasso – Méditerranée”, an initiative from Musée National Picasso-Paris.
Picasso-Mèditerranée” is an international cultural event which is held from Spring 2017 to the end of 2019. Over seventy cultural institutions have come together to conjure up a programme around the work “obstinément méditerranée”* of Pablo Picasso. Initiated by the Musée national Picasso-Paris, this journey into the creation of the artist and across the places which inspired him, aims at strengthening ties between all the shores (*Jean Leymarie).
With the exceptional support of Musée National Picasso-Paris
Info
Title: “Picasso. The challenge of ceramics”
Period: 1st of November 2019 to 13th of April 2020
Curated by Harald Theil and Salvador Haro with the collaboration of Claudia Casali
Ticket: 14 euro, 10 euro (reduction)
Open: from Tuesday to Friday 10 am 4.00 pm, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10 am – 5.30 pm, closed: every Monday unless it is a holiday, 1st January, 1st May, 15th August, 25th December
Read more: www.micfaenza.org
Mari Balsamà Wilson 
Leave a Reply