Pablo Picasso - Photographs New York Saturday, November 14, 2009 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Swann Galleries, New York, 18 May 2006, lot 174

  • Catalogue Essay

    As one of the most prolific and important artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso continuously excelled in challenging norms, reconfiguring conventions, and introducing revolutionary ideas. From clay to bronze, from paintings to collages, and from etchings to photographs, Picasso was tireless in his insistence to not merely push boundaries but to eradicate them altogether, blurring the lines between one medium and the next, calling into question the rigidity of categories and the flexibility of parameters.
     Picasso’s initial delving into the field of photography began as early as 1901 and lasted through 1916. However, it was not until after the Second World War that the artist, by then already renowned for his work, revisited the medium, albeit with a greater degree of experimentation. The way he had painted on newspaper ads and adhered cut-outs on canvas, Picasso began cutting, puncturing, slicing, carving, painting and, as we see in the present lot, engraving celluloid negatives before printing them. By working the negatives the way he would a block of wood, copper plate or a sheet of paper, Picasso created a new category for the field of photography to permeate, encouraging future generations of artists to challenge and expand on the field

  • Artist Biography

    Pablo Picasso

    Spanish • 1881 - 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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250

Untitled

circa 1953
Gelatin silver print.
5 x 3 in. (12.7 x 7.6 cm).
Signed in ink on the recto.

Estimate
$20,000 - 25,000 

Photographs

14 Nov 2009
New York