2 - BAYA (Fatma Haddad Mahieddine) (Algeria, 1931–1998)

BAYA (Fatma Haddad Mahieddine) (Algeria, 1931–1998) Vase with two handles, circa 1949 Glazed terracotta, with a pear-shaped body, flared neck, and flared base, decorated with fish motifs in high relief. Condition: minor chips. Dimensions: 32 x 23 cm This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Baya Committee. This piece exemplifies the artist’s Vallauris period, from which she is believed to have preserved only a few works. Provenance Private collection; acquired from the artist in the 1980s, then passed down through the family. Privately acquired in 2023. “I held my exhibition in 1947, and in 1948, I was at the Madoura pottery in Vallauris. I wanted to work with clay, and at that time in Algiers, there was no kiln—there wasn’t everything I needed—so I went to Vallauris. (…) I love working with clay. I’m both Kabyle and Arab, and I lived in Kabylie, in Tizi Ouzou; not for very long, but I remember seeing the women working with clay. Maybe that’s why I took it up on my own, and why I love clay and pottery. At Marguerite’s, I didn’t know where to fire them. So she—who was familiar with the famous Madoura pottery in Vallauris—decided we’d go there. Picasso was there at the same time. We spent a whole month together; our studios were next to each other. ” Excerpt from an interview conducted by Dalila Morsly in 1993.