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Welcome to Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
120 Main Street, Upton MA 01568-6193; 800-809-3343
For more information or to purchase, please call 1-800-809-3343 or email us at spaightwood@gmail.com
You can follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spaightwood-Galleries-Inc/122951564441757
Picasso as Printmaker: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973): The Artist and his Models
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If there is a twentieth-century artist who truly needs no introduction, it is Picasso; if there is a twentieth-century artist about whom more books have been written than Picasso, we have no idea who it might be. In any case, Picasso is not going to get much of a general introduction here. Rather, a general introduction to the works in our inventory must suffice. Picasso was a wildly inventive artist who periodically returned from whatever voyage he was undertaking to rest, refresh himself with the familiar—classically-drawn people, bullfights, dances, animals, birds, insects, flowers, the artist and his model, love and lust—before venturing out for further explorations,. Picasso helped invent the artistic vocabulary of Cubism, Surrealism, and Post-Modernism. Along with a few other artists—Matisse, Kandinsky, Braque., and Miró spring quickly to mind—he invented modernity in art for the twentieth century.
Bibliography: The literature on Picasso is enormous. We list here only catalogue raisonnés for his prints: Georges Bloch, Volume I: Catalogue of the Printed Graphic Work 1904-1967 (Berne: Editions Kornfeld and Klipstein, 1971); Georges Bloch, Volume II: Catalogue of the Printed Graphic Work 1966-1969 (Berne: Editions Kornfeld and Klipstein, 1971); Georges Bloch and The Picasso Projest, Volume III: Catalogue of the Printed Graphic Work 1970-1972 and Supplement to Volume I also contains a concordance of the Bloch numbers with the Baer numbers; published Alan Wofsy, 2004); Galerie Louis Leiris, Picasso: 156 Gravure Récentes (Paris: Galerie Louis Leiris, 1973); Sebastian Goeppert, Herma Goeppert-Frank, & Patrick Cramer, Pablo Picasso The Illustrated Books: Catalogue Raisonné (Geneva: Patrick Cramer, 1983); Ulrike Gauss, Pablo Picasso Lithographs (NY: D. A. P., 2000); Fernand Mourlot, Picasso Lithographs (Boston: Boston Book and Art, 1970). The Gauss Lithographs uses the same numbers as the Mourlot catalogue, but illustrates color prints in color; the 156 Gravure Récentes picture book was published by Picasso's longtime gallery and illustrates the entire series, now also to be found in Georges Bloch and The Picasso Projest, Volume III: Catalogue of the Printed Graphic Work 1970-1972 and Supplement to Volume I. Cramer illustrates all of Picasso's prints for books and art reviews and provides an authoritative source for information about the sizes of editions and the various papers used for the prints.
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Peintre chauve devant son Chevalet / Bald painter at this easel (Bloch 87; Goeppert, Goeppert-Frank, and Cramer 20). Original etching, 1927. 65 signed impressions on Japan plus 340 unsigned impressions (of which 240 are printed on Rives as ours). This etching, commissioned and published by Ambroise Vollard and printed by Louis Fort, was published in 1931 for his deluxe artist's book of Balzac's Le Chef-d'Oeuvre inconnu / The unknown artist's masterpiece. Each pencil-signed portfolio contained 13 unsigned etchings and 67 wood-engravings by Georges Aubert after Picasso's drawings. Illustrated in Picasso: 60 Years of Graphic Works (LA County Museum of Art, 1967, p. 37) and Magdalena M. Moeller, Picasso Druckgraphik . . . aus dem Sprengel Museum Hannover (Propylaen, 1986, p. 82). Image size: 194x278mm. Price: SOLD.
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The Painter and his Model (Mourlot 399, Bloch 1155). Original lithograph, 1964. 3000 unsigned impressions for Picasso Lithographe IV. This lithograph served as the frontispiece to the book. It is one of a long series of lithographs and etchings Picasso has made on this theme, which was particularly important to him from 1963-65. Image size: 320x235mm. Price: $1500.
This lithograph and the one below were executed on the same day.
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The Painter and his Model II (Mourlot 400, Bloch 1142). Original lithograph, 1964. 2000 unsigned impressions for the Smithsonian's Mourlot catalog + 1150 impressions for L'Atelier de Mourlot at Redfern Gallery. It is one of a long series of lithographs and etchings Picasso has made on this theme, which was particularly important to him from 1963-65. Image size: 250x180mm. Price: $1500.
This lithograph and the one above were executed on the same day.
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Sculpteur et Sculpture (Bloch 1187). Original aquatint, 1965. 80 signed & numbered impressions on various papers + 255 unsigned impressions for the deluxe portfolio, Sable Mouvant (1966), of which our impression is one. One of the most beautiful of the series of prints on the theme of the artist and his model that Picasso worked on during 1963-65. Printed at Aldo Crommelynck's atelier. The work has been illustrated in several books on Picasso, including Magdalena M. Moeller, Picasso: Druckgraphik, illustrierte Bucher, Zeichnungen, Collagen und Gemalde / Prints, Illustrated Books, Drawings, Collages, and Paintings (Hannover: Sprengel Museum, 1986), p. 321, and Sebastian Goeppert, Herma Goeppert-Frank, and Patrick Cramer, Pablo Picasso The Illustrated Books: Catalogue Raisonné (Geneva: Patrick Cramer, 1983). Image size: 387x280mm. Price: $5750.
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Peintre et Modele aux Chevaux longs / Painter and Model with long hair (Bloch 1184). Original aquatint, 1965. 80 signed & numbered impressions on various papers + 255 unsigned impressions for the deluxe portfolio, Sable Mouvant (1966), of which our impression is one. Another from the wonderful series of prints on the theme of the artist and his model that Picasso worked on during 1963-65. Printed at Aldo Crommelynck's atelier. The work has been illustrated in several books on Picasso, including Magdalena M. Moeller, Picasso: Druckgraphik, illustrierte Bucher, Zeichnungen, Collagen und Gemalde / Prints, Illustrated Books, Drawings, Collages, and Paintings (Hannover: Sprengel Museum, 1986), p. 321, and Sebastian Goeppert, Herma Goeppert-Frank, and Patrick Cramer, Pablo Picasso The Illustrated Books: Catalogue Raisonne (Geneva: Patrick Cramer, 1983). Image size: 387x280mm. Price: $5750.
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The three works that follow are all from Picasso's Series 156, executed shortly before his death in 1971. Each of the 156 etchings was issued in an edition of 50 numbered impressions and signed with the estate signature stamp. In what follows, I am quoting from an article by Elspeth Moncrieff on a sale of Picassso ceramics and prints at Christie's in London published in The Art Newspaper, n. 130 for November 2002, p. 49: "A high proportion of works were from Picasso's two late series, 347 and 156, executed shortly before his death in 1971. Traditionally, these prints have not been as highly regarded as the earlier etchings of the Suite Vollard, and this, coupled with the fact that there are so many of them, means that prices are still extremely reasonable [meaning, we learn later in the article, that "about 60% of the prints can still be bought for under £10,000" [then in the neighborhood of $20,000]. Christie's took advantage of this fact to bring a lot of new private buyers into the market.
Picasso's involvement with his print-making was total. None of these works were reproductive and he was one of the most versatile and inventive print-makers ever known, constantly reinventing the rules and confounding the very best of the traditional print-makers he worked with. At the end of his life, he was living in the South of France and desperate to make prints. He persuaded the Crommelynck brothers, whom he had worked with in Paris, to set up a studio near him and worked furiously on these final plates until his death. In many ways, these prints can be considered his last great outpouring; intensely personal they are almost like a diary. The roles of men and women are almost reversed from the early Suite Vollard. Many of the prints are highly erotic, but here the woman is dominent and the man an impotent voyeur, reflecting his own frustrations. Several dealers including Alan Cristea believe that these are among Picasso's greatest and most personal prints; he had no need for money at this stage and up to now they have been ridiculously undervalued. Picassso knew he was dying and these prints are filled with impulses and characters from the past. There are several references to Degas, with whom Picasso in his frustrations could identify. Because they are among his last works, they are also in excellent condition." For Picasso's own views on his impotence, consider the witch doctor with the giant hypodermic needle aimed at his poor sexual organs; consider also the evident comic intent in this piece, which is the bottom work shown on our website here.
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Series 156: 70. Artist and Model (Bloch 1927, Baer 1936). Original etching, 1971. 50 numbered impressions signed with the estate signature stamp. Executed 3/10/71 and approved by Picasso before his death, this etching, like the others in this series, was printed posthumously. An artist watches a beautiful young model with her arms attached backwards. Most of the etchings in the 156 Series show artists (including Raphael, Rembrandt, Degas, and Picasso himself). often aged, looking at their beautiful young models. Here the artist, who appears to be wearing 17th-century buckles on his boots, seems to be focused on the woman's eyes to the exclusion of all other aspects of her which are amply, if oddly, revealed. Image size: 210x150mm. Price: $8500.
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Series 156: 95. Degas in the Bordello (Bloch 1950, Baer 1959). Original etching, 1971. 50 numbered impressions signed with the estate signature stamp. Executed 3/25/71 and approved by Picasso before his death, this etching, like the others in this series, was printed posthumously. Here Degas watches a patron of a bordello with one of the objects of his lust. Note the brutushness of the male customer in the brothel oblivious to the cooly-observing artist. Image size: 230x310mm. Price: $8500.
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Series 156: 135. Circus Scene (Bloch 1990, Baer 2000). Original etching, 1971. 50 numbered impressions signed with the estate signature stamp. Executed 3/28/71 and approved by Picasso before his death, this etching, like the others in this series, was printed posthumously. Ours is an artist's proof, inscribed "E. A. IX/XVI." A horse and a clown watch a beautiful young model dress. One of the largest etchings in the 156 Series, most of which show artists (including Raphael, Rembrandt, Degas, and Picasso himself) looking at their beautiful young models. Image size: 320x420mm. Price: $10,750.
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Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to spaightwood@gmail.com.
We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
We also accept wire transfers and paypal.
For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.
All works are sold with an unconditional guarantee of authenticity (as described in our website listing).
Go back to the top of this page.
Visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 pm and other times by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
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