New Picasso Ceramics museum to open in Vallarius

Picasso's ceramics is from a PBS special

I have adored Picasso's ceramics from when I first spotted one. So much so that I was surprised to see I had not mentioned them in my many Picasso blog posts in the past. 

So I was excited to see this on artnet.com: 

Picasso’s Storied Ceramics Studio to Reopen as Museum: The Madoura Pottery workshop in Vallarius, France is undergoing an $8.2 million renovation.

Pablo Picasso’s famed ceramics studio is getting a second life, complete with a museum and lush new gardens. After nearly 30 years behind closed doors, the Madoura Pottery workshop in Vallauris, France is set to reopen to the public in 2027 following a €7 million ($8.2 million) transformation.

The atelier was opened 1938 by Suzanne Ramié, a significant French ceramicist, and her husband Georges. Over the years, it has been the birthplace of great acts of creativity by 20th-century greats like Picasso, Matisse, and Marc Chagall, before closing in 1997. Nearly three decades later, the mayor of the local city of Vallarius, Kevin Luciano, has spearheaded a major renovation project that will see the ruin welcome visitors once more.. [continue reading on artnet.com]

You can see photos of the site during construction in the article above or from kevin.lucianio21 on Instagram.

The new Picasso Ceramics museum is set to open in Vallarius in the spring of 2027.

If I was still travelling, this one would be worth building a trip on. Maybe someone will do that, if they stumble across this post.

You can read more about the studio's history, and the alarm at its possible demise, before the recent restoration project began: Picasso’s Legendary Ceramics Studio Under Threat (also from artnet.com).

Below are a few works I adore and a few articles about Picasso's ceramics.

Understanding Picasso's Ceramics - Artsper Magazine

The Story Behind Picasso Ceramics - artnet.com

Never-Before-Seen Picasso Ceramics Hit the Auction Block in Geneva - artnet.com

Picasso, the potter: A new look at the artist’s bravado in ceramics - LA Times

Picasso Ceramics History and Valuation - picasso-ceramics.org

Life at Vallauris - picasso-ceramics.org

When Picasso met Lump

 

Lump didn't start out as Picasso's dog, Lump was David Duncan's dog. David Duncan was Picasso's photographer and wrote several books about Picasso (highly recommended). David brought his dachshund by when he visited Picasso in the south of France, and the two fell in love (Picasso and Lump, that is).

Read the full article below, but here is my favourite quote:

Lump and Picasso remained friends for the rest of their lives.  Lump lived to 1973 reaching the ripe old age of 17. Picasso died ten days later.

Duncan’s Dog meets Picasso - Lewis Art Café (lewisartcafe.com)

Lump (dog) - Wikipedia

Picasso damaged at Tate Modern

Stuff like this piece in the news today drives me crazy....

After an important Pablo Picasso painting was damaged at one of London’s most notable museums, a man could face criminal charges. This past weekend, Pablo Picasso’s 1944 painting Bust of a Woman was reportedly ripped at the Tate Modern. The person suspected of vandalizing the painting is Shakeel Ryan Massey, a 20-year-old man from London, who was charged with criminal damage on December 28. According to the Guardian, Massey has said he will deny the charge. The work was created during the Nazi occupation of Paris and is now valued at £20 million (about $26.3 million). The piece depicts the photographer Dora Maar, the artist’s lover and muse, wearing bright green clothing and a hat. The painting, which is on long-term loan to the museum from a private collection, was attacked on Saturday and has been taken off view..." [continue reading on ArtNews]


More on the subject:
Man Charged with Criminal Damage After $26.3 M. Picasso Painting Is Ripped at Tate Modern - ArtNews
Museum visitors damaged a Salvador Dalí painting while taking selfies - Photography
Denver man accused of ‘throwing things and knocking things over’ in damage spree at art museum - Dallas News
Here Are 9 Shocking Times People Destroyed Art While Taking Selfies - ArtNet
What Happens if You Accidentally Damage or Destroy a Priceless Work of Art in a Museum? - Today I Found Out

Picasso Exhibits 2016

An enlargement of Picasso's 1934 sculpture,
The Bust of Sylvette
(read how I tracked it down in NYC)

Late last night I happened to be scouting about for Picasso exhibits this year, thinking I may travel to one, if a destination appeals (yeah to being able to travel again soon!). Imagine my surprise and delight to learn about the PICASSO: The Artist and His Muses exhibit coming to the VAG June 11 to October 2, 2016. FANTASTIC!!!

I have followed Picasso on my travels, visiting special Picasso exhibits in Aix-en-Provence, Barcelona, and New York.... I have visited Picasso museums in Barcelona, Berlin and Paris.... I have also tracked down Picassos in the permanent collections of museums in Madrid and several in New York (and I'm sure I am forgetting some!).... I do love Picasso!

PICASSO: The Artist and His Muses
June 11 to October 2, 2016
Vancouver Art Gallery
PICASSO: The Artist and His Muses Exhibit info
Muses explored in Picasso exhibit coming to Vancouver Art Gallery

Elsewhere...

The Barnes Foundation Premieres Major New Picasso Exhibition In Philadelphia

Picasso: Genie Without a Pedestal
Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille
April 27 to August 29, 2016

Picasso – Shape Transformations, 1895-1972
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
April 21 to July 31, 2016

Picasso Portraits
National Portrait Gallery, London
October 6, 2016 to February 5, 2017
A brush with Picasso: rare portraits to be displayed in London

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So sad I missed these:
Picasso Sculpture, September 14, 2015–February 7, 2016 at the MoMa
Picasso Exhibit at MoMa

Some of my Picasso experiences

Trip Reflections: My week in Aix-en-Provence with Picasso

Trip Reflections: Paris, Picasso and Heartstrings

Picasso Museum in Paris is inspiring... and closing!

In the Big Apple: Leaving New York

Drunk on Picassos

Today at the Guggenheim

I am CRAZY about Picasso

I am truly crazy about Picasso. The bug really got to me a few years ago, and I've been enjoying the ride ever since. I have gone from seeing my first real Picasso in a gallery (the Met), to having seen several entire musuems dedicated to his work. I've gone from my first book about Picasso to a shelf-full. It's all for fun (I'm no scholar), but I figured I might as well start sharing what I'm learning...

Future Travels: Art Institute of Chicago

That's Chicago in the background of this Picasso sculpture. This is Picasso's immense Nude Under a Pine Tree. I didn't know about this work and really want to see it! And that was before I discovered that he painted it exactly 7 days before I was born: cool.

Both will require me to make it to Chicago.

It was completly by fluke that I came across this blog post on Midwest Rock Lobster on a guy's visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. I have had Chicago on my must-do cities list, but wowee, this convinced me. I am going to start seriously planning towards a trip one day. Anyways, the blog post is excellent, as he really gives you a tour of the works to wet your whistle.

And that it did. Their online catalog lists 344 Picasso works, yum! A quick browse and I know I'd like to see these: Cannes, Games and Reading, Man and Flute Player, Minotaur and Wounded Horse, Painter and Model, and a cool collection of 5 plates - all of which aren't currently on display. Thanks goodness for the internet, as I can still see them! Hmmmm... would be worth watching for an exhibit of Picasso works from the archives.... Also liked this curious sclupture entitled Figure. Truth be told, too many works to even look at online, lol.... was Picasso ever prolific!

Beside a decent collection of Picassos, there are Dalis, Miros, Kandinskys and more....

Trip Reflections: Paris, Picasso and Heartstrings (a year ago)

A year ago today I was in Paris and in Picasso heaven.

That's where this picture was taken, in the sculpture garden at the Picasso Museum. I can still remember how excited and inspired I was that very day. To read my blog post from Paris on August 21, 2009 on my day with Picasso there, click here.

I feel so lucky to have seen the Picasso museum in Paris, as it is now closed until sometime in 2011. That's bad news for those in Paris, but it's good news for people around the world who will see some of it's 500 Picasso works in a travelling exhibition. I understand it has been in Helsinki and Moscow so far, and is still overseas. The exhibition is coming to the Seattle Art Museum in October and I think it just might be reason for a road trip (with some nudges from my sissy).

So... back to Paris. All told (or is that "all tolled"?), I was there about a month, and it was heaven. HEAVEN.

What great fun it was to have my niece Branwen visit me for my time there. And what a year it has been for her since then. She hadn't yet graduated from her jewellry program and we spent many an hour having cafe au lait and pain au chocolat - in our fav cafe - and talking about what she would do when that day came. How awesome is it that today she has her own studio, a website (branwenkemp.com) and her Chicadora line is a smash hit at art shows and at Favorites in North Vancouver. I remember going to a flea market in Paris with her where she was hunting out old silver spoons; she'd begun making them into jewelry... and today her spoon rings are constantly selling out. I love mine. And I still can't believe all that has transpired for her in that time.

Some fav moments and memories:

• Our sweet little apartment in the Marais, and how we would greet each other with "Bonjour Madame", calling out the window when the other came home and entered the courtyard below
• Paris Plages, and my meal on banks of the Seine - and the elderly man I met who told me all about his life in Paris - and the couple I gave my doodle of the scene before me to (more here)
• Throwing out my backpack and getting a suitcase on wheels!!! (what had I been thinking?!?!)
• The Kandinsky exhibit I went to at the Pompidou Centre
• Discovering the Opera Garnier, quite by accident, and how amazing it was (including the underground waters that gave birth to the Phantom of the Opera story) (more here)
• All my adventures exploring the old Paris Metro stations and the underground subway art... wow, wow, wow
• Wandering the covered passages (more here)
• The violin concert we stumbled on in a little church one day
• The day we got caught in the most tremendous rainstorm and ducked into a big 'ol bookstore... it rained so much that we had to walk around buckets... I left with a wee Picasso book - in French!! I figured it would help me with my language skills(I just came across it the other day)
• Getting lost and separated from Branwen and Maryanne at Pere Lachaise cemetery
• Hanging out with Marjorie
• Connecting with Shawn and Jessica from the states whom I'd met in Barcelona
• The day Branwen saw one car drive up and over another car at the Arc de Triomphe
• My first "stand and pee" toilet!
• The day I - for some confounded reason I still cannot explain - bought a fondue pot
• Discovering the teensy skinny Pilot G-TEC-C4 pens that I still draw with today, and my first doodle with such fine lines!
• And, oh, the fresh baguettes, the cheese, the pastries.... ooh la la!!

Oh, Paris, how you grabbed hold of my heart and didn't let go. I still feel it.

I actually went back to Paris again on my 51st birthday in January - story and pics here.

I'm sure I will return one day. Paris is one livable city.... would love to go back for a few months or even longer one day.... but, heck, I'd be happy with a few days, just to be there... (sigh)

In the Big Apple: Leaving New York

Me and my friend Lisa Ch, who I mentioned in my last post (sans pictures):
Lisa showing off her ring from La Alberca, where we did our program. I have the same ring.

Well, it is time to go home. It is hard to leave New York, but it's been a great visit. In the end, with so much time, it was very relaxing. Now for a few pics from my last few days. A little hard to see, but this is me, last night, on the rooftop deck at my hotel.

Black sheep?

Those phones were at Grand Central Station, which I almost forgot how much I love, until I was back inside, so I goofed off for an hour or two. Loved taking pics of the people sitting next to this sign...

I just love the hub bub of Grand Central, and love a pic that's clear with just one or two people blurred. It says action... love it!

More people on the stairs, it's a common thing to do...

Until a cop comes and shoos you away....While I was there, I wandered by this sign and remembered... "ah ha!!", that's something I've always wanted to do!

They had some outside seating set up for the summer, and while it looked lovely, IMHO this didn't qualify as the 'real' thing....

The Campbell Apartment is one of the most famous bars in the world, and is such an integral part of Grand Central that it actually has its own entrance:

Me pouting at the dress code requirement posted at the entrance. I was in a teensy tank top, shorts and sandals.

I asked to peek inside to take a pic, and, alas, they let me in!!! When I said I knew I wasn't dressed appropriately, and the girl at the door said "We're not too busy, and it's different for girls anyways." Cool. In I went. When I asked if I could take a few pics, sans flash, as long as I didn't include any guests, he offered to take one of me, with flash. Sweet. This is me and my rich little $7.50 Amstel. I do not have flowers in my hair, I think that's some lamp behind me.

Not much one can take a pic of, without flash, and without including people, in the dark... but just for the mood...

Bartender blur... I love this one!

Now, some pics when I went down to Greenwich Village and SoHo yesterday...

It may not look like much, but this intersection at Houston and La Guardia (also known on the opposite side as West Broadway and Houston on the other side of the street) hides something very special. Two things, actually. I got here taking the 6 train to Bleeker Street. I actually took this pic as I was walking away from the two things I am going to show you.

First, or should I say last in terms of when I saw it, was this explanation of what was planted in all that greenery on the corner, and what the "Time Landscape" is. Click the pic to enlarge it if you want to read (it's kind of cool). Otherwise, keep scrolling down for the most exciting thing....

I came across the destination of my trip approaching from behind, from Bleeker Street. Which ever way you approach, look for the towers of the NYU residences (called Silver Something) and you will find this Picasso beauty:

It is an enlargement of Picasso's 1934 sculpture, The Bust of Sylvette, and it was done by Carl Nesjar. If you want to read more, click here (also some interesting stuff about the complex, designed by I. M. Pei). I had a glorious time, just wandering around, soaking it in, and taking pics...

While technically in Greenwich Village, the blue of a building just into SoHo provides an interesting urban background for this fabulous work...

I was thinking how lucky those students were, then I noticed this cat tree in a window.... and I thought, how lucky that cat was, getting to stare out at a Picasso all day! Meeoooow!

Now,one more pic from my dip into SoHo... this one of just a cool blue stairway...

Now, a few more pics of my hotel, The Pod, which I wrote more about here... this is the lobby. It really is a cool space.

Another pics of the lobby. The art is the work of New York artist James Rizzi, and there were original paintings in this theme throughout the hotel, including the hallways and some of the doors. Interestingly, I was chatting to the concierge today, and he is also an artist and collaborates with Rizzi. See some of Bryan Raughton's stuff here.

Looking from the outside deck of the hotel into the lobby lounge. There is something really cool about how this pic turned out that I like. By the way, I am sitting in that very lounge now, at the laptop bar, as I write this.... killing time before my evening flight.

My feet on the back deck last night as I enjoyed a glass of wine.

Looking up from the back deck. Isn't that cool?

Now, up to the rooftop, just as dusk was settling in....

Hip places to sit on a hip deck in a hip little hotel. How hip is that?

My foot and the Manhattan skyline as the sun set. I was lying on my back on one of those wooden bench things. The clouds were pretty cool... though the evening was hot.

Oh, Big Apple, how I will miss you! But I'll be back again, that I know for sure... I still have more pics, and will, hopefully, post them when I get home. Hope you enjoyed joining me on my wee journey here....