Lord and Lady Attenborough, have loaned 140 Picasso ceramics to the city of Leicester to be displayed at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. Attenborough has been instrumental in raising the funds for this building and his continuing support has allowed the museum to develop and widen the programmes. When Richard and his wife Sheila entrusted their collection of some 140 Picasso ceramics to the city of Leicester, they kindly gifted the museum, Red Owl a larger ceramic charger. The work was chosen for its colour and contrast making it more accessible to the partially-sighted visitors. The piece was inspired by medieval Spanish ceramics and its use of heraldic birds. Applying the technique of sgraffitto (incising), Picasso drew a stylised depiction of an owl on the front of the dish and decorated the back with patterns often seen in medieval Spanish ceramics.
The Attenboroughs began their collection in 1954 when they first visited the Madoura pottery in Vallauris in southern France, where Picasso had been working for several years with Georges and Suzanne Ramié. The great majority of the collection consists of Picasso editions and original impressions, multiple works that Picasso insisted the pottery should produce and sell inexpensively, so that ordinary people could own a ‘Picasso’. Working from an original pattern to produce many repetitions, the decorators at Madoura worked with a freedom that aimed to match that of their original creator.
The great majority of the collection on display consists of Picasso editions and original impressions. Picasso insisted the pottery should produce and sell inexpensively, so that ordinary people could own a ‘Picasso’. Working from an original pattern to produce many repetitions, the decorators at Madoura worked with a freedom that aimed to match that of their original creator. The ‘Red Owl’ donated to Embrace Arts is 77 from an edition of 120.‘Red Owl can be seen at Embrace Arts at the Richard Attenborough centre, Lancaster Road, Leicester.
Picasso Ceramics: The Attenborough Collection is on view at New Walk Museum & Art Gallery. Admission is free and the Embrace Arts gallery is open between 10.00am and 6.00pm Monday to Friday.