Pablo Picasso - Deux Sculpteurs devant une statue

Plate 7 from the Vollard Suite: Original Etching, Paris, 9th July 1931, Probably Boisgeloup, on Parchmont paper, nicely signed by the artist in red ink

Edition: 3 - Numbered in red ink from the edition on Parchment of just 3 copies. There were also 50 proofs on large Montval paper with Montgolfier watermark and 260 proofs on small Montval paper with the watermark Picasso or Vollard Signature. 3 signed BAT proofs also exist.

Reference: Bloch, Georges. 1968-1979. Pablo Picasso, catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographié, 4 vol. Berne: Kornfeld and Klipstein. (Bloch 140)

Geiser, Bernhard and Brigitte Baer. 1986-1996. Picasso: Peintre-Graveur, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre gravé et des monotypes, 7 vols. Berne: Kornfeld. (Baer 207.B.b)

Miguel Orozco: “The complete etchings of Pablo Picasso” Number 404

Note: The publication of the hundred etchings created by Picasso between 1930 and 1937 was one of Ambroise Vollard's most impressive undertakings. Vollard was one of the greatest art dealers and publishers of his time and his championship of some of the most celebrated artists of the day deserves the thanks of later generations. His artists, to name but a few, included Cezanne, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Rousseau, Rouault and Picasso. Picasso met Vollard in Paris in 1901 and worked with him over an extended period. When the Vollard Suite etchings were first made they were in fact rarely signed (with the exception of some rare proofs made on vellum in editions of 3). Vollard died tragically in a car accident in 1939 and eventually, after the Second World War, most of the Vollard Suite passed into the hands of the famous Dealer Petiet. Petiet knew that Picasso , would never sign anything until he was paid for it and the artist required a substantial fee for putting his signature on the Vollard Suite etchings. Accordingly Petiet gave his buyers the option of buying them either unsigned or, for 10% more on the cost, signed. This meant that Picasso signatures from 1939 until the artists death appear on Vollard Suite etchings. Obviously there is a difference in the artists signature as he aged. The plate for this was cancelled in 1956 and still exists in the Musee Picasso, Paris

Provenance:

1. Purchased from the below:
2. Private collection Mrs Erika Winstone (Inherited from the below)
3. Private collection: Mr John McGuire (1930 - 2000) : An Irish Entrepreneur and owner of the Setanta Gallery, Dublin. He opened the Setanta Gallery in Molesworth St in 1973, which specialised in selling limited editions of signed prints and paintings. Setanta Gallery label verso.
4. 7/9/1992 Estimated by Sotheby’s to John Maguire at £6000/£8000 (Original of letter provided to the seller)

Published by: Ambroise Vollard, Paris

Printed by: Lacouriere in 1939

Size: 515 x 395 mms (paper size) ; 215 x 305 mms (plate size) - The “regular” Vollard Suite etchings on Montval paper are slightly smaller measuring 450 x 340 cms

Public Collections: Examples ONLY on Montval Paper

MOMA, New York - https://www.moma.org/collection/works/63824

Fundación MAPFRE

Masur Museum, Los Angeles

Condition: In very good condition.