Pablo Picasso, Bust of a Woman after Cranach, Linocut, 1962

Description

First linocut by picasso

pablo picasso (1881-1973)

bust of a woman after cranach

colour linocut on vellum paper

year 1962 … more First linocut by picasso

pablo picasso (1881-1973)

bust of a woman after cranach

colour linocut on vellum paper

year 1962

sheet size: 317 x 383 mm
image size: 270 x 223 mm

plate number 1 from the collection of linocut published by cercle d'art editions in 1962, and the first linocut in the production of the artist

great condition: negligible signs of ages, never framed - please see pictures!
note on condition: our artwork is complete, neither cropped nor trimmed. We insist on that because some people used to crop linocuts from these series in order to cut the small numbers lower left, for aesthetic reason: this way, the artwork loses its integrity and even most of its economic value. We are selling a complete artwork, not crippled, and we show it all - one of the pictures includes the edges. Tip: if one does not like the small number, it is easy to hide it under a passepartout when matted - just don't trim the artwork!

this is a real linocut from the original edition dated 1962 (not from the lithograph/digital reprints published in 1988 and 2020)
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picasso and linogravure (linocut)

picasso's activity on linocut is late, and certainly due to the desire to give color, having in lithographs a secondary role, a leading one in graphic creation. Thus, the artist did not intend to discover a new series of contents and forms, but to adapt his figurative world to new technical possibilities. And so, as in all of picasso's experiences - whether in plastic, lithography, ceramics, or aquatint - the results obtained can only be compared to picasso's own previous creations.
we do not know what chance event brought picasso into contact with the unusual medium of linoleum. Just as a year earlier he had finished painting "l'arlésienne" with dove feathers collected from the courtyard of his house "la californie" in cannes, rather than with a brush, the linocuts may also have had an equally casual immediate inspiration. However, in comparing the aquatints of the "tauromachia" with the brush drawings immediately preceding the linocuts, a fundamental difference is immediately spotted. The engravings are static and two-dimensional, so much so that they sometimes create a silhouette effect. The artist then used several very different expedients to adapt his motifs to the possibilities offered by printed linocut. Although he had previously only made woodcuts, picasso soon found himself at ease in this new field where he ventured with rapid decision and treats the docile material according to methods of extreme ductility. Linear and two-dimensional schemes are used and exhibited by numerous superimpositions of the same colour, or by repeatedly reprinting the same matrix appropriately modified. Among the various colour agreements, the ideal type prevails in the combination of ochre, brown and black inspired by the color scheme of greek vases and which inexplicably also responds perfectly to the needs of the most modern technique.
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on this artwork

picasso first experimented with linocut with a free interpretation of a brightly colored female portrait by lucas cranach the younger in the mid-16th century. Starting with lithographic variations on cranach the elder's "david and bathsheba", picasso often drew humorous paraphrases from german renaissance paintings, such as "venus and cupid" in the galleria borghese, where he was deeply struck by their bold deformations and decorative abstractions. In imitating the female portrait, he was so committed to transcribing the chromatic effects that he renounced other formal stylisations. To remain faithful to the bright colours of the costume, he used multiple impressions, but avoided superimposing colours so as to create composite tones. This two-dimensional technical possibility was in fact always systematically rejected by picasso. Thus, in this very portrait the fluid contours of the shadowed areas on the left and the free and ornamental design of the sleeve stand out, while the light background is rendered with broad and strong hatching. The close collaboration with the printer arnéra in vallauris who took care of all of picasso's editions, allowed the master to rapidly perfect his technique within a year, giving it a personal touch. I have official proof of authenticity such as vintage catalogs,
designer records,
or other literature sources and take full responsibility for any authenticity issues arising
from
misattribution less