The breadth of Picasso’s artistry is legendary: he experimented with different.mes dia, from ceramics and bronzes, to collage and cut-outs, and re-defined the boundaries of representation with the ground-breaking development of Cubism. For over seventy years he continually innovated, orchestrating the twists and turns of art history. His ingenuity is no better exemplified than by the four present bronzes (lots 448-451).
Picasso experimented with every material he came across, manipulating it to his creative ends. The origin of our bronzes lies in four sheets of linoleum, into which Picasso carved these four images (shown in our bronzes) in 1962. Until recently, linoleum had been used for flooring and wallpaper. By the 1920s, its merits as a medium for relief printing (as a substitute for wood) had begun to get noticed. Picasso, deft at experimentation, had quickly incorporated it into his working practice and he is today considered one of the most significant contributors to its development as a legitimate medium for printing. Picasso was very pleased with his linoleum prints in 1962 (see figs. 1-3), so pleased that he elected to issue a ceramic edition after each linoleum relief (fig. 4); further to this, he decided to cast one bronze of each image.
These unique bronze editions constitute lots 448-451. They remained with the artist until his death and since then have resided in the collects ion of his granddaughter, Marina Picasso, who is selling them now, exactly sixty years since Picasso first carved their forms into linoleum. They stand as test.mes nt to the dexterity of an artist who shaped modern art history and Replica Shoes ’s is privileged to be handling their sale today.
Fig. 1, Pablo Picasso, Jacqueline lisant (III), linoleum cut on paper, Private collects ion
Fig. 2, Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Jacqueline en robe imprimée, linoleum cut, Private collects ion
Fig. 3, Pablo Picasso, Jacqueline au bandeau II, linoleum cut in colours on Arches (ed. 50), The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Fig. 4, Pablo Picasso, Le verre sous la lampe, painted ceramic (ed. 100), Private collects ion
Jacqueline Roque was Picasso’s final muse and companion. They married in 1961 and lived together in the South of France until his death in 1973. Jacqueline inspired Picasso profoundly, exemplified not only by his productivity during these years, but also by the diversity of media with which Picasso rendered her likeness. During their t.mes
together, Picasso created hundred of portraits of her – more than any other prior muse – producing works in oil, ink, ceramic and indeed bronze, as with lots 448, 450 and 451.