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11

Pablo Picasso

Jeune fille de profil couronnée de fleurs (Young Girl in Profile Crowned with Flowers), plate 6 from Six contes fantasques (Six Whimsical Tales) (Bl. 366, Ba. 696, see C. bks 66)

1944
Engraving with burr, on wove paper, with full margins.
I. 13 3/4 x 10 5/8 in. (34.9 x 27 cm)
S. 15 3/4 x 12 3/8 in. (40 x 31.4 cm)
Signed in red crayon and numbered 23/30 in pencil, from the small and special edition reserved for friends of the publisher (there was also a book edition of 225 on various papers), published by Flammarion, Paris, 1953, framed.
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Maurice Toesca's six tales in Six contes fantasques (Six Whimsical Tales) mix the fantastic with the real in such a way as to reveal the great truths of life, the force of time, art and nature. This theme, familiar to Picasso, is the central idea behind the artist's illustrations for this book. On April 30, 1944, Picasso made six engravings with burin (creating the velvety burr areas of the lines) which were dated and numbered from 'I' to 'VI' in the plates. These details were burnished out for the larger, unsigned book edition.

Picasso drew this image for the sixth tale titled Le Bois d'enfer (Hell Woods), the author anticipates his own old age. He tells how the 80 year old Monsieur Toesca faces the hard realities of life as he crosses the woods of hell with his double, Monsieur Troïka. This final tale is preceded by the sixth engraving of a woman's profile with a garland of flowers. The image may be compared with certain portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walder but also of Dora Marr. (Patrick Cramer Pablo Picasso, the Illustrated Books, 1983, p. 176)

Pablo Picasso

Spanish | B. 1881 D. 1973

One of the most dominant and influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was a master of endless reinvention. While significantly contributing to the movements of Surrealism, Neoclassicism and Expressionism, he is best known for pioneering the groundbreaking movement of Cubism alongside fellow artist Georges Braque in the 1910s. In his practice, he drew on African and Iberian visual culture as well as the developments in the fast-changing world around him.

Throughout his long and prolific career, the Spanish-born artist consistently pushed the boundaries of art to new extremes. Picasso's oeuvre is famously characterized by a radical diversity of styles, ranging from his early forays in Cubism to his Classical Period and his later more gestural expressionist work, and a diverse array of media including printmaking, drawing, ceramics and sculpture as well as theater sets and costumes designs. 

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