Portrait de Jacqueline au Chapeau de Paille Multicolore - Portrait of Jacqueline with a Multicoloured Straw Hat. by Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973
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Portrait de Jacqueline au Chapeau de Paille Multicolore - Portrait of Jacqueline with a Multicoloured Straw Hat.

Original linocut in five colours printed from two blocks. 1962. Signed in brown felt pen, inscribed as 'épreuve d'artiste' and with a dedication 'Pour Yvonne Zervos' (The wife of Zervos the cataloguer of Picasso's paintings). Artist's Proof (one of c.15-20) apart from the issued edition of 50. Cut at Mougins, January 1962. Printed at the studio of Arnera, 1962. Edition issued by Galerie Leiris '62
Ref: Geiser - Picasso Peintre-Graveur 1283 (Bd2)

Superb glowing special proof impression with brilliant colours. On pale cream wove Arches paper. Overall excellent condition; face of the sheet excellent, some very slight traces of time discoloration on the reverse only. Sheet: 24 1/4 x 17 3/8ins. Image: 13 5/8 x 10 1/2ins (345x268mm).

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An exceptional special proof, with a large-scale signature annotation and dedication to one of Picasso?s close friends, of one of the brilliant vibrantly-coloured linocut portraits of Jacqueline dating from the beginning of the 1960?s.

Picasso?s linocut prints are amongst the greatest, and technically most inspirational colour prints of the 20th century. Whilst in etching, and even in lithography, it had been the monochrome play of single ink tones which had interested him, in linocut he found a print medium in which he could give full range to his use of colour. Picasso made his first linocuts trials in 1958, and his first prints in mid 1959. He was attracted to linocut because, like woodcut, it created flat surfaces from which either even tones or textured areas could be printed and it could be easily carved allowing both freedom and perfection of cut. At first he followed the traditional idea of using a separate block for each colour, printing one over the other. However he quickly changed his approach. He discovered that if he worked from the boldest forms in the image down to the finest he could print successive colours from the same block, cutting away at the surface at each stage. This had the result of building a tremendous solidity of tone in the parts that were constantly overprinted and a unique translucence in each cutaway part. It also meant that once the block had been cut there could be no correction of the earlier stages.

In ?Jacqueline with a Multicoloured Straw Hat?, above, Picasso in fact used two blocks. Working at Mougins in January 1962 he used a first block to establish the underlying form and some background (here printed in pale grey) and then a second to create the succession of five colours which form the main image. Using the compositional theme of the superimposed profile and full face Picasso created one of his most vibrant and exciting portraits of Jacqueline.