Les Mains Liées, No 1. Linked Hands, No 1. by Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973
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Les Mains Liées, No 1. Linked Hands, No 1.

Original lithograph in black ink. 1952. Signed in pencil. Numbered (35) in pencil from the edition of 50. Printed at the studio of Mourlot, Paris, September 1952.
Ref: Mourlot - Picasso Lithographs no 210. Bloch no 708.

Extremely fine strong impression. On pale cream wove Arches paper. Excellent condition; never previously mounted or framed. Full margins including deckle edges. Printed virtually to the full sheet size, as issued. Sheet: 19 ¾ x 26 1/8ins (500x 662mm).

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This famous composition, and its companion piece opposite, were drawn by Picasso when he was asked to create a design to express the spirit of the Third International Peace Congress which was held in Vienna in December 1952. The linked hands symbolised the joining together of nations around the Dove of Peace. Largely as a result of this group of studies the motif of the 'Dove of Peace' was to become one of the most famous in Picasso's oeuvre, and an icon of Post War imagery.

Wonderfully simple and effective in concept the drawing of this image is so typical of the invention which flows through every part of Picasso's art. The design was a project very close to his heart, expressing so many of his, and the world's, hopes for and belief in rebirth and regeneration in the years after the War. It is perhaps the sense of optimism that it embraces which has made it so famous and admired.