CERAMIC works of art by legendary Spanish artist Pablo Picasso are going on public display in York from tomorrow (Friday, July 28).

The new exhibition, at the Centre of Ceramic Art in York Art Gallery, showcases highlights from the Attenborough collection.

Lord and Lady Attenborough began collecting ceramics by Picasso in 1954, after meeting him while on a family holiday in the south of France.

At the time, Picasso was beginning to experiment with clay and produce his own ceramics at Georges and Suzanne Ramié’s Madoura Pottery in Vallauris. The Attenborough’s returned to Vallauris year after year, purchasing many more pieces and created the most significant private collections of Picasso ceramics in the UK.

The ceramics have been loaned to York Art Gallery by the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester, by permission of the Estate of Lord and Lady Attenborough.

The collection will be displayed alongside some of York Art Gallery’s British studio ceramics collection, offering the public the opportunity to compare and contrast the works of Picasso’s contemporaries and those that were influenced by his work.

Helen Walsh, curator of ceramics, said: “Visitors to the exhibition at York Art Gallery will be able to see Picasso’s ceramics alongside the work of many British studio potters. This includes the work of those that came before and after Picasso.

"The loan of the works has been in the planning for a number of years and we are extremely grateful to the Attenborough family for agreeing to the loan and to Leicester Museums and Galleries for letting us have some of their prized pieces to share with our visitors."

One of the most significant pieces in the exhibition is Vase Aztèque Aux Quatre Visages ('vase with four faces'). The form was developed by Suzanne Ramiè, who took the inspiration from ancient Pre-Columbian portrait vessels. Sometimes called stirrup heads due to the hooped spout on the top of the form, the Pre-Columbian forms tended to be modelled by hand to create a realistic head shape and were mostly male, very occasionally boys, and never women. Picasso’s female version of the portrait vessel is based on his wife Jacqueline and was thrown on the wheel in sections and then assembled to give a smooth finish.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is thought by many to be one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century and is credited as co-founding the Cubist Movement with Georges Braque. Picasso was versatile and prolific; producing work as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet, and playwright. Though he spent much of his life in France, Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, where there is a long tradition of painted earthenware pottery and he retained an interest in the pottery throughout his life.

The exhibition, 'Picasso: Ceramics from the Attenborough Collection'. runs at York Arts Gallery from today to November 5.