Did Picasso ever design a Montici mosaic?
How about famous French painter and sculptor Georges Braque, or the celebrated Spanish painter Joan Miro?
It’s possible.
I recently came across a Time magazine article profiling Richard Blow and his mosaics entitled “Pictures in Stone.” The holiday season story, covering Richard’s latest Manhattan exhibit, landed on newsstands across America on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 1951.
Towards the end of the piece, the writer noted “With his current exhibit almost sold out, Blow has already commissioned designs from Italian painters Giorgio De Chirico and Massimo Campigli, and is hoping to interest Picasso, Braque, and Miro.”
Wow!
Richard’s pursuit of Picasso and other giants of modern art makes sense.
Blow was determined to free the once cutting-edge, 16th century, Medici craft of pietra dura from the boredom of the stagnant iconography it had fallen into by the early 20th century -- stale reproductions of classical artworks, and corny, sentimental scenes of happy peasants hawked to tourists. He set out to commission mosaics featuring, modern art iconography -- surrealism, metaphysical, abstract, Pop.
Early on, Richard commissioned mosaic designs from his good friend, Italian artist Massimo Campigli (1895-1971), whose human figures were strongly influenced by both Picasso and by French painter Fernand Leger (Leger foreshadowed Pop Art).
Massimo Campigli with painting
Campigli-style Montici mosaic “Two Figures,” 1968, artist gift to Oregon State University.
He also commissioned mosaic designs from the Metaphysical artist Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978), described by Christie’s as “a Surrealist before Surrealism even existed.’
Giorgio De Chirico “Piazza d’Italia” painting, 1948
Giorgio De Chirico style Montici mosaic, “Classical Arcade and Sculpture” (MSID)
So, Richard’s idea to recruit Picasso, Braque, and Miro was both logical and smart.
Especially since all three artists also created mosaics.
True, their mosaic works were typically larger, not measured-in-inches, Montici-sized wall art. Their mosaics were also executed in the more traditional, Roman, “tesserae” style, featuring small squares of common clay or glass, instead of the hard, semi-precious stones cut in jigsaw shapes in the Florentine pietra dura mosaic style. But they understood and worked in the mosaic medium, and Richard could offer them the opportunity to see their creativity executed in a more elegant style of mosaic.
Pablo Picasso, “Star Face” glass mosaic, 1957, Aalborg Modern Art Museum, Denmark.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), living on the Cote d’Azur in South France in the 1950s, was creating mosaic panels in collaboration with mosaicist Hjalmar Boyesen, who executed Picasso’s designs.
Georges Braque, “Les Poissons”, 1963
French painter and sculptor Georges Braque (1882-1963) - created this delightful fish mosaic, embedded in the reflecting pool at the Fondation Maeght museum, Saint Paul de Vence, France.
Juan Miro, "Mosaic del Pla de l'Os" 1976.
Meanwhile, Spanish painter/sculptor and ceramicist Joan Miro (1893-1983), born in Barcelona, was creating monumental, public art mosaics, like this 26-foot-in-diameter, colorful work embedded in a street in his home town.
So, did Richard succeed?
Did any of the three, internationally celebrated artists ever design a Montici mosaic?
If they did, today those Montici works would be worth a fortune.
Unfortunately, I can’t identify any reasonable suspects in our Society database. Combing through our catalogue of 350 Montici works, nothing jumps out as a Picasso. Braque, or Miro design.
But my eyes are now officially open. I’m actively looking.
Richard produced an estimated 1,500 Montici artworks.
A Montici Picasso – or Braque or Miro – remains a possibility.
Michael Schmicker