Suzanne Ramié (1907 - 1974)

Suzanne Ramié (1905-1974) was a French ceramic artist and, together with Georges Ramié, the founder of the Madoura pottery workshop in Vallauris, one of the leading centres of post-war French ceramics. Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, she settled in Vallauris in 1938, where the couple acquired an old pottery and transformed it into Madoura, a workshop that would become internationally renowned. An accomplished ceramic artist and outstanding technician, Suzanne Ramié developed a highly personal body of work distinguished by sculptural forms, sophisticated glazes and a refined balance between material, colour and volume. Her ceramics are characterised by their restraint, technical precision and strong sculptural presence. In 1946, she welcomed Pablo Picasso to Madoura and introduced him to the techniques of ceramics. Their collaboration transformed the workshop into one of the most influential ceramic studios of the twentieth century. Over the following twenty-five years, Suzanne and Georges Ramié supervised the production and edition of more than six hundred Picasso ceramic models, establishing Madoura as an international reference in modern ceramics. Although her own artistic achievements were long overshadowed by Picasso's fame, Suzanne Ramié is now recognised as a major ceramic artist in her own right. Her technical expertise, artistic vision and decisive contribution to the history of Madoura have secured her place among the leading figures of twentieth-century French ceramics.