"Mademoiselle, you have an interesting face. I would like to do a portrait of you. I am Picasso. We will do great things together." - Pablo Picasso to Marie-Therese
Picasso's
impact on art history can not be understated. His influence is
everywhere, and art that has been created since Picasso is the result of
either artists emulating him or revolting against him. In addition to
painting and sculpture, Picasso was also a master printmaker; and he
explored and created new ways of working with the medium. In general
terms his prints can be catalogued within series and by dates of
completion. The vast majority of original Picasso prints, like those of
Matisse, were accomplished in black and white. Color in original prints
by Picasso tend to be the browns and muted tones found within the
linoleum cuts.
"Homme
Dévoilant Une Femme" is from the Vollard Suite. The suite of 100 line
etchings (drypoint and aquatint) were created by Picasso in exchange for
paintings by Renoir and Cezanne owned by the dealer and publisher
Ambroise Vollard. The prints were made by Picasso between 1930 - 1937
and it took another two years for the master printer, Roger Lacouriere,
to complete the printing of the sets. The edition size is 260, with an
additional 50 sets printed with wider margins, and three sets printed on
vellum. Not all of the prints are signed and none are individually
numbered. Some museums own the entire suite of 100, however most of the
sets have been broken up and sold individually. As far as a Picasso
series, there is little disagreement that the "Vollard Suite" is Picasso's
greatest achievement.
Close up of the Picasso signature.
Close up of the Picasso watermark.
Close up of the Picasso watermark.
A complete "Vollard Suite" is
owned by the National Gallery of Australia, and a complete set was
acquired by the British Museum in 2011; after a donation of one million
pounds from the financier Hamish Parker in memory of his father. The
British Museum had wanted the set for their permanent collection for
many years and the director at the time, Neil MacGregor, said is was
"one of the institution's most important acquisitions of the past 50
years."
Framed "Homme Dévoilant Une Femme" by Pablo Picasso.
The story of Picasso's first encounter with Marie-Therese Walter on January 8, 1927 is very well documented, and the following paragraph is from J. Richarson, "Through the Eye of Picassso 1928-1934, NY, 1985:
"Outside the Galeries Lafayette, one freezing afternoon, he was captivated by the sight of a very young, very voluptuous blond with intensely piercing blue eyes - the quintessential femme enfant. Picasso grabbed her arm, but his opening gambit almost misfired: 'Mademoiselle, you have an interesting face. I would like to do a portrait of you. I am Picasso.' She had never heard of him; and he was obliged to take her to a nearby bookstore and show her publications in which his photograph appeared. In the course of the maneuver he managed to charm the girl into meeting him two days later at the Metro Saint-Lazare, well away from his usual haunts. 'We will do great things together,' he said and took her to a movie. Despite thirty years difference in age, she found him attractive; she like the way he dressed."
In 1930 Picasso bought a seventeenth-century chateau at Boisgeloup in Normandy, and it was there that his relationship with Marie-Therese reached a climax. For the next five years, she became the subject of his paintings, sculptures, and prints. The art critic William Rubin wrote that "None of Picasso's earlier relationships had provoked such sustained lyric power, such a sense of psychological awareness and erotic completeness... Picasso proceeds from his intense feeling for the girl... he paints the body contemplated, loved and self-contemplating. The vision of another's body becomes an intensely arousing and mysterious process." (Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1971, p. 138)
"Homme Dévoilant Une Femme" is a rare and early original drypoint by Pablo Picasso from his most famous and celebrated series of prints, "La Suite Vollard." The image shows a nude Picasso lifting a drape from the face of, his then lover at the time, the young Marie-Therese Walter. It is hand signed in pencil "Picasso" bottom right and dated XX-VI-MCM.XXXI (June 20, 1931) in the plate, upper right. The plate measures 366x298 mm (14 1/2" x 11 3/4"), and the sheet has full margins. It is from the edition of 260, with the Picasso watermark, printed by Lacourière, Paris, and published by Vollard, Paris. This is a brilliant and richly-inked impression, with velvety-black burr throughout; and it is custom museum framed using using a black wood frame, two linen mats, a black wood fillet, and UV conservation clear glass. A stand out piece for any Fine Art Collection!
"Outside the Galeries Lafayette, one freezing afternoon, he was captivated by the sight of a very young, very voluptuous blond with intensely piercing blue eyes - the quintessential femme enfant. Picasso grabbed her arm, but his opening gambit almost misfired: 'Mademoiselle, you have an interesting face. I would like to do a portrait of you. I am Picasso.' She had never heard of him; and he was obliged to take her to a nearby bookstore and show her publications in which his photograph appeared. In the course of the maneuver he managed to charm the girl into meeting him two days later at the Metro Saint-Lazare, well away from his usual haunts. 'We will do great things together,' he said and took her to a movie. Despite thirty years difference in age, she found him attractive; she like the way he dressed."
In 1930 Picasso bought a seventeenth-century chateau at Boisgeloup in Normandy, and it was there that his relationship with Marie-Therese reached a climax. For the next five years, she became the subject of his paintings, sculptures, and prints. The art critic William Rubin wrote that "None of Picasso's earlier relationships had provoked such sustained lyric power, such a sense of psychological awareness and erotic completeness... Picasso proceeds from his intense feeling for the girl... he paints the body contemplated, loved and self-contemplating. The vision of another's body becomes an intensely arousing and mysterious process." (Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1971, p. 138)
"Homme Dévoilant Une Femme" is a rare and early original drypoint by Pablo Picasso from his most famous and celebrated series of prints, "La Suite Vollard." The image shows a nude Picasso lifting a drape from the face of, his then lover at the time, the young Marie-Therese Walter. It is hand signed in pencil "Picasso" bottom right and dated XX-VI-MCM.XXXI (June 20, 1931) in the plate, upper right. The plate measures 366x298 mm (14 1/2" x 11 3/4"), and the sheet has full margins. It is from the edition of 260, with the Picasso watermark, printed by Lacourière, Paris, and published by Vollard, Paris. This is a brilliant and richly-inked impression, with velvety-black burr throughout; and it is custom museum framed using using a black wood frame, two linen mats, a black wood fillet, and UV conservation clear glass. A stand out piece for any Fine Art Collection!
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