Surrealist painting, landscape by Jules Agard (Picasso's ceramicist) in Vallauris

Surrealist painting, landscape by Jules Agard (Picasso's ceramist) in Vallauris. Oil painting, 50x70 cm. — Signature lower right, very good condition. — Jules Agard (1905 - 1986) French ceramist of the 40s-70s, Jules Agard is a renowned potter in Vallauris when Suzanne Ramié founded the Madoura workshop, of which he became the technical director. Naturally, when Suzanne Ramié invited Picasso to Vallauris and offered him the use of Madoura's workshop, Jules Agard was appointed to create the pots that Picasso would paint. The collaboration between Picasso and Agard lasted for almost 22 years, until the latter's retirement in 1971. Dominique Sassi said of him: "Jules' hands fascinated me when they pressed the ball of clay (...) I understood that Picasso, impressed, respected this know-how where so many audacious forms were born from this colossal duo." Although he is best known as the skilled working partner, Agard is also an artist in his own right: a painter and a ceramist, who goes to his own studio every evening. The work we are presenting is a series of Vallauris terracotta ceramics, with figurative or free forms, sometimes becoming legendary animals, giving free rein to our imagination. Bibliography: In the Shadow of Picasso, Dominique Sassi, Hugo Doc, 2015, p.100.