“Everything you can imagine is real.”
—Pablo Picasso One early-January day in 1969, a delivery of art supplies arrived at Pablo Picasso’s studio in Mougins, a village just above Cannes. At the time, Picasso was living a relatively secluded life on the French Riviera alongside his second wife, Jacqueline Roque, immersing himself completely in his artistic endeavours. The shipment of art supplies was contained in large protective panels of corrugated cardboard, which Picasso’s assistants casually lined-up against the studio wall. The blank, but textured packaging drew Picasso in, much alike freshly-stretched canvases that beg to be painted. On January 30th, Picasso could resist no longer and he painted a portrait on a piece of the corrugated cardboard. Over the next three months, he repeated this regularly, creating a series of 29 portraits in total, with the final painting dated May 7th, 1969.
Frans Hals, The Laughing Cavalier, 1624, The Wallace Collection. Image: IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo The moustachioed figures who populate Picasso’s Portraits Imaginaire are bedecked with ruffs, hats, wigs and more. Infused with nods to the past, the dandies of these portraits echo the art historical canon, particularly the opulent yet playful portraiture of Frans Hals. Yet, Picasso invigorates the traditional genre with his quintessential post-cubist visual language, rendering the figures in bright colours and bold, gestural shapes. In their vivid hues of yellow, blue, pink and orange, the portraits evoke a playful sense of costume and caricature, as though Picasso is parodying art history, both adding to it and reimagining it.
Once complete, Picasso was delighted with the series of paintings and he sought out a master printmaker to reproduce the works as lithographs. Marcel Salinas, a highly-respected Parisian lithographer, was asked to produce two trial proofs; these impressed Picasso so much that not only did he proceed to commission Salinas for the entire series, but he also decided that Salinas’ name should be published alongside his own, making him the only printer to receive such an honour. Two hand-numbered editions of 250 were produced, one for world-wide distribution and one for France. Once the print series were complete, the lithographic stones were destroyed and the original paintings on cardboard remained in Picasso’s possession.
122
Portraits Imaginaires (Imaginary Portraits)
1969
The complete set of 29 offset lithographs in colours, on Arches paper, the full sheets loose (as issued), with colophon, all contained in the original clamshell portfolio box with printed title.
all S. approx. 65.5 x 50 cm (25 3/4 x 19 5/8 in.)
portfolio 68.5 x 53 x 4 cm (26 7/8 x 20 7/8 x 1 5/8 in.)
All numbered 'F 186/250' in pencil, from the French edition (there was also an American edition of 250 marked 'A'), published by Harry N. Abrams, New York, all unframed.
Estimate
£50,000 - 70,000 ‡♠
Sold for £114,300
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Evening & Day Editions
London Auction 19 - 20 September 2024
407
This lot is no longer available.
