"People have said for ages that a woman's hips are shaped like a vase. It is no longer poetic; it becomes a cliché. I take a vase and with it make a woman... I move from metaphor back to reality" – Pablo Picasso


"My heaviest burden is to decide how to divide my energy between painting and sculpture. I think that someday I must give up one of them because my creative ability is split between the two. I am thinking of giving up painting for good.'"- Jewad Selim

There was a huge emergence of studio pottery in Britain in the first half of the 20th century which left a profound impression on Jewad's practice. Studio potters such as Bernard Leach aimed to raise the profile and reputation of pottery to a level where it would be regarded as equal to painting and sculpture. This 1949 ceramic sculpture combines elements of Jewad's different practices, fusing both painting and sculpture. For Jewad there was something singular about the opportunities that working with clay provided for his creative process. Appreciating the plastic and technical possibilities of three-dimensional forms, he approached ceramics in a more playful and whimsical manner. Ceramics were both aesthetically pleasing but also functional, you could quickly and inexpensively create and experiment with this art form. There is a deliberate reference to ceramic traditions from all over the world, seen most strikingly in this depiction of a woman. This work exemplifies the dialogue between ancient and modern that characteristics Jewad's oeuvre.