Time hasn’t been kind to Pablo Picasso’s studios in France. According to The Art Newspaper, the Paris studio where the Spanish artist created his famous Guernica painting was just barely protected from a developer who wanted to turn it into a hotel. And now Picasso’s studio in Vallauris, where he made more than 4,000 ceramic works, is in danger of falling apart. It’s a dire situation for a building where Picasso worked for 24 years.
The Madoura workshop, according to Artnet was abandoned for seven years and recently purchased for €3 million ($4 million) by local authorities. If this had been any other building, one would say they were cheated; there’s apparently a hole in the roof and the walls are soaked with water. “Crumbling” has been used to describe the structure.
Pablo Picasso, Wood Owl, 1968, partially-glazed earthenware vessel with paint
Don’t despair for art history, however. Antibes deputy mayor and association president Jean Leonetti is confident that the building will rise again as a cultural center for ceramics. Renovation work should begin this fall and Leonetti said that studies show the cost for fixing the place up is not “excessive.”
Bill Rodgers is a Contributing Editor at CFile.
Featured image: Pablo Picasso in Madoura in 1953. Photograph by André Villers.
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A series of Pablo Picasso linocuts, between 1952-1960, for expositions in Vallauris, France, where Picasso had his ceramics studio.
Interested in an artist residency in Vallauris France?
Located in the heart of the old town Vallauris, A.I.R. Vallauris (Artists in Residence), a non-profit association, welcomes artists from around the world to its lodgings and studios to meet with local artists and to research and create new works in a unique setting.
In its 13th residency season, A.I.R. Vallauris has welcomed around 200 international artists since its conception in 2001.
http://www.air-vallauris.org