Prints and Multiples

linocut
signed and numbered 24/50 in pencil
25 1/4 x 20 3/4 inches.

Published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris; printed by Arnéra, Vallauris

Provenance:
Lillian Heidenberg Gallery, New York
Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach

Literature:
Bloch 1069; Baer 1303

Lot Essay:
Maker and Muse: Picasso’s Jacqueline au Bandeau de Face (Grand Tête de Femme)

By his late 60s, Pablo Picasso was already a highly accomplished artist, yet he remained committed to experimentation and pushing the boundaries of the media with which he worked. The artwork presented here is a prime example of this intentional push to expand the boundaries of printmaking.

In 1947, in Vallauris in the South of France, Picasso began a 24-year partnership with the pottery workshop Madoura to produce ceramics. By the late 1950s, as this collaboration developed and grew, Picasso sought to promote his ceramic work through linocut advertising posters, with the help of local master printer Hidalgo Arnéra. Arnéra and Picasso would collaborate from 1958 to 1963, and, though Picasso, was well-versed in other printmaking techniques such as etching and lithography, he quickly began to explore linocut more seriously. During this time, Picasso reached a breakthrough in the process through his invention of the reductive linocut. 

While working at Madoura in 1953, Picasso met Jacqueline Roque, who would become his artistic muse and later his wife. Married in 1955, their relationship was often torrid and controversial, nevertheless, Roque was a profound inspiration to Picasso’s work. The lot presented here, Picasso's Jacqueline au Bandeau de Face (Grand Tête de Femme) (Jacqueline with the Headband) was printed the year after they were married. Jacqueline was his most frequent muse, appearing in more works than any other woman in his life. Her face, features, and presence are unmistakably woven into many of his linocuts from the late 1950s and 1960s, with this work being one of the foremost examples of this theme. She came to represent Picasso's late period not just emotionally, but visually. She was not just a model, but a deep, constant muse who inspired Picasso to explore new visual languages, particularly in linocut. Her image and their connection are inseparable from his printmaking legacy, with this work, Jacqueline au Bandeau de Face, firmly sitting at the pinnacle of his accomplishment during this period.