Fired Up

The first collection of Picasso ceramics to show in Las Vegas opens today at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.

"In the Master's Hands: Picasso's Ceramics, Treasures from the Estate of Pablo Picasso" features 32 oven-fired works including figurines, plates, vases and pots. The exhibition will be on display until Jan. 14.

"Picasso made a lot of unique ceramics," says Andrea Glimcher, president of the Bellagio gallery.

However, 34 years after his death, most are only familiar to art historians. That's partly because ceramics was seen more as a craft during Picasso's day, a red-headed stepchild of the art world.

"Even his dealer at the time was probably a little apprehensive about Picasso doing that," Glimcher says.

Picasso produced his first ceramic, "Woman Combing Hair," in 1904 and frequently modeled his bronzes in clay before casting them. But his fascination with the medium really fired up in the late '40s, when he was introduced to Madoura, a celebrated workshop in Vallauris, a French town known for its ceramic tradition since Roman times.

"It's not that this was a hobby or singular pursuit," Glimcher says. "He was creating these ceramics and learning about the subject while he was doing other disciplines."

Hallmarks of some of Picasso's most famous paintings, drawings and sculptures also found expression in clay.

"For instance, we have a work called 'Owl,' " Glimcher says. "In the '40s, Picasso also had started incorporating the subject of an owl into paintings and lithographs. So, if you study all of his work across different areas, you'll find there's a lot of relationships between his investigation of a subject."

At Madoura, Picasso produced 633 plates, bowls, vases and pitchers, in limited editions ranging from 25 to 500. Most of the Bellagio show's pieces -- on loan from Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the artist's grandson -- were created there from 1947-63. The exhibit will include an illustrated timeline by Picasso scholar Marilyn McCully.

Glimcher says her contract does not allow her to reveal the collection's worth.

"But they're priceless," she says. "They're Picassos."