| The ceramic arts have been significantly downplayed, even ostensibly ignored, in the canon of western arts, viewed by some groups of art enthusiasts as of the lesser "type" of fine art. Yet, many artists of international repute have engaged in ceramics when exploring a medium by which to best represent their art. Some have even made a professional career of it. The first artist to radically change the relegation of ceramics to "utility" and "hobby" was that of Peter Voulkos (January 29, 1924), a Greek-American artist that many art critics of today may have only heard of in passing. One of Voulkos' contemporary influences was Pablo Picasso, who too dabbled in the ceramic arts during a brief period of his artistic career during and following the war. This thesis will analyze the ceramic works of Pablo Picasso and Peter Voulkos by first drawing a distinction between high art and low art from an art historian's perspective. A historical overview of ceramics, specifically during The Bauhaus, Japanese Craft, and Sodeisha movements, as both an applied art and a fine art will be conducted, followed by a formulation of new ceramic art as a "high art" over its craftsman "low" origins. It will then offer a greater analysis of specific artworks created by Voulkos and Picasso, looking at their techniques, their compositional work, the intent behind their artwork, and what makes their work different than mainstream pottery and ceramic work. An analysis of both Voulkos and Picasso's ceramic works reveal a great number of similarities in technique, presentation, contextual meaning, and even style of production, rejecting the key components dictated by Italian art theorist Giorgio Vasari. This thesis examines the ceramic and sculptural art works of Pablo Picasso and Peter Voulkos and attempts to prove that aspects of each artist elevated their works into a category of aesthetics from that of function. |
