Peintre et Modèle Accoudé. Painter and Model Leaning on a Chair. by Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973
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Peintre et Modèle Accoudé. Painter and Model Leaning on a Chair.

Original brush-worked aquatint and some drypoint, in black ink. 1964. From the edition of 255 impressions, issued always unsigned for the album: Sables Mouvant. (80 proof impressions were printed prior to this issue, signed in pencil). Etched at Mougins, Feb 1964. Edition printed at Crommelynck Studio, Paris 1965. Edition issued by Louis Broder, Paris 1966.
Ref: Bloch 1188, Cramer 136, Baer 1157.

Superb tonal impression with very crisp printing. On pale cream wove Rives paper. Excellent condition. Full margins. Sheet: 18 3/4 x 15 1/4ins. Plate: 15 x 10 3/4ins (380x275mm)

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During the 1960?s Picasso became fascinated by the medium of aquatint for his prints. He had made a small number of beautiful works with this technique some 20 years earlier, but reintroduced to it by his printer Lacouriere he decided to experiment further. Using what is known as a ?lift-ground? method which allowed him to work entirely with the brush creating an extraordinarily varied range of tone when the plate was bitten, he drew some images on his favourite theme of the ?artist and the model? which are amongst the great prints of this period of his life.

Working purely with a brush the forms are created not so much by contour, or by definition of shape, but rather by suggesting the forms through a pattern of light and shade. Where the brush does create direct form then the surface is expressed in the most brilliant range of subtle tone changes. ?Painter and Model Leaning on a Chair?, above, is a very fine example of the inspiration of these works. In the variations in the stroke, and the richness of the tones, and in the manner that the images are just suggested then completed by the viewer?s eye these works have an extraordinary plasticity.

Note: This composition was one of a group drawn for the series ?Sable Mouvant?. In this series the edition was 255 impressions, of which 95 were pencil signed. However the unsigned impressions were printed from the same plates, on the same press and at the same date as the signed impressions (the plates were cancelled after the edition). As such, since they make only a third of the price on the market, they represent very fine value for money in artistic terms.