Pedro Mercedes

PEDRO MERCEDES (Cuenca, 1921-2008).
Vase.
Hand glazed ceramic with green and brown tones.
Signed on the base.
Presents marks of use and wear.
Measurements: 25 x 15 x 15 cm.

Outstanding potter, Pedro Mercedes worked the ceramics in an exceptional way, transforming the clay, opening it between his hands, always with the masonry at the ready looking for the maximum expression of his works. His extensive production experiments in the world of shapes and volumes, remodeling concepts such as the ancestral Iberian bull, horses, deer, gods and even heroes, which Mercedes himself defined in that magical world in which the potter immerses himself. Artistic personalities approached the pottery where Mercedes modeled his brilliant works, and from it came pieces to all parts of the national and international scene. Even Picasso himself, an artist that Pedro Mercedes admired, came certain pieces commenting that: 'The same goblin has touched me and the potter of Cuenca'. In fact, in 2018 an acclaimed exhibition was held in Navarrete, La Rioja, in which pieces by Mercedes and Picasso coexisted and others by great artists such as Dalí, Miró, Palencia, Sarachaga, Sanguino or Faus, among other potters, were exhibited.
Pedro Mercedes began his career as a potter when in 1929 he saw his stepfather, a potter by trade, turn a piece before him for the first time. After leaving school in 1933, Mercedes began to attend the School of Arts and Crafts under the supervision of Fausto Culebras, a painter and sculptor from his homeland, who introduced him to the artistic environment. The art of the artist from Cuenca is characterized by the subtle edging, scratching and polishing of the material, thus turning the humble clay into true art. In turn, Pedro Mercedes is considered the creator of the scratching technique, which has transformed the concept of Cuenca pottery. To do this, he uses a nail and a razor, scraping and stripping the brown color of the clay and trying out the possibilities offered by the black color. The result of his art are pieces like the one presented here, in which the artist's knowledge of the material results in a studied bichromy and profusion of forms, almost bordering on horror vacui, adapted to the potter's wheel. Throughout his career as a potter he has participated in numerous exhibitions both individually and collectively, both in Cuenca and in the wider national scene. In fact, the Provincial Council paid tribute to him with a great anthological exhibition in the incomparable setting of the Carmelite Convent: "...Pedro is a clear mind, he is a 'Genius of clay' who, day by day, fascinates us by leading us to that space reserved for the privileged, without ceasing to be a simple man, "a humble potter" as he says". In 2004 the exhibition organized by the J.C.C.M., composed of more than 100 pieces of his property and others donated by the artist, was inaugurated in the city of Cuenca (former convent of the Religiosas Angélicas), later touring the cities of Toledo (Museo Santa Cruz), Ciudad Real (Museo Provincial), Albacete (Museo Provincial) and Talavera de la Reina (Museo Ruiz de Luna). Nowadays Pedro Mercedes has his own museum, being able to find his work in the Excmo. Ayutnamiento de Cuenca in the Antigua Caja Castilla La Mancha, in the House of Cuenca of Barcelona, in the Unesco of Paris, in the Spanish Royal House, in the Junta Comunidades Castilla-La Mancha, as well as in several private collections.