Michel SIMA

n.d. [around 1948], Photograph: 17.3 x 21.3cm; Leaf: 18 x 24cm, one leaf.

Rare original photograph of Pablo Picasso turning towards one of his ceramic creations, taken by Michel Sima.
Contemporary silver print. Pencil inscription on the back. Very light scratch on the surface, not affecting the image.

“In September 1946, Pablo Picasso set up his workshop in the attic of the Château Grimaldi in Antibes, in a former “guards room” to which the curator Romuald Dor de la Souchère gave him the keys so that he could work there as he pleased. It is the artist Michel Sima, sculptor and photographer, who introduced the two men. Arriving from his...

Original photograph of Pablo Picasso in his workshop in Vallauris with his ceramics and plaster
s.d. [around 1948], Photograph: 17.3 x 21.3cm; Leaf: 18 x 24cm, one leaf.

Splendid portrait of Pablo Picasso, taken by Michel Sima in Picasso's Madoura workshop in Vallauris with his ceramics and a plaster model of his Centaure (1948).

Contemporary silver print. Pencil inscription on the back.
Thanks to the author of this superb portrait, Picasso began his impressive ceramic production at the Madoura workshop, in the small town of Vallauris known for its pottery tradition. Sima photographed with vigour the master and his many creations...

[Antibes] n.d. [1946], 23.9 x 17.7cm, one leaf.

Exceptional original photograph of Pablo Picasso by Michel Sima. The artist is holding and owl in front of his painting “Nature morte à la chouette et aux trois oursins” now in the Picasso Museum in Antibes.

Contemporary silver print. Pencil inscription on the back.

The photographer had entrusted Picasso with a wounded owl. Named Ubu, after Alfred Jarry's literary masterpiece, the bird kept the artist company in his atelier in Antibes and served as a model in many of his paintings, including the one that features in the background of this photograph.