Pablo Picasso

(Spanish, 1881-1973)

Femme Nue Cueillant des Fleurs (first and third state)

, 1962

two linocuts, the first state with glassine overlay including graphite additions

bearing Arnera estate stamps on verso of sheets

14 x 10 1/2 inches.

Provenance:

Estate of Hidalgo Arnera

Frederick Mulder, London

Private Collection, Paris

Acquired from the above by present owner

Literature:

Bloch 1092

Lot Essay:

Pablo Picasso was one of the most prolific printmakers of the 20th century. He was a master in copper plate etching and lithography, however a smaller portion of his oeuvre consists of nearly two hundred linocuts.

In the late 1940s, at the height of his artistic career, living mostly in the South of France, Picasso was compelled to reinvent himself. He first turned his attention to the creation of ceramics at the Atelier Madoura in Vallauris which he promoted with linocut advertising posters. This led to another new passion: making linocuts in color.

For assistance in this new process, he turned to master printer Hidalgo Arnera, a fellow Spanish expatriate living in the South of France. From 1958-1963 they collaborated together spending countless hours creating these linocuts. The process of printing a linocut, typically requires a cutting a separate block for each color printed. Picasso soon found this process too labor intensive and found a solution with Arnera in the “reduction” method. This method employed a single linoleum block, carved and printed, then recarved and printed multiple times in successive stages to add each different color of ink. Colors would be printed one on top of the other, slowly building colors onto the print starting with the lightest color and proceeding to the darkest. The advantage of the technique is that colors line up relatively easily at printing. The disadvantage is that the artist must be absolutely certain of his next move, before carving away more of the block and printing the next color, as this carving cannot be undone.

The present lot consists of the first and third (final) states of Femme nue cueillant des Fleurs together with the tracing paper layer used to make edits to the linoleum block. As is the process with Picasso's “reduction” method, the first state was printed with only one color. The artist then used glassine as tracing paper to trace the print and make line and color decisions as the work progressed and the block was recarved. This impression, likely the only impression of this single-color state in existence, still has the tracing paper attached leaving visible evidence of Picasso’s hand at work.

Many impressions from the Arnera estate have entered museum collections since they provide a tangible glimpse at Picasso’s working process. The two linocuts presented here remained in Arnera’s estate until after his death in 2007 and are still in their original condition, having never been framed, clearly exhibiting the unique qualities of working proofs.

First State: graphite dust in extreme margins from the glassine sheet, partial watermark in lower right corner, handling creases throughout, indentations in printed image visible in raking light from the process of sketching, glassine sheet has slight loss in lower right corner, creases running vertically through the length of the right side of glassine sheet all condition consistent with use.
Third State: Sheet: 24 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches. Arches watermark visible in right margin, lower edge deckled, handling creases visible mainly in lower margin, slight surface dirt, please see images.

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Joseph Stanfield

Senior Vice President, Director, Fine Art

[email protected]312.280.1212

As the head of Hindman’s Fine Art Department, Mr. Stanfield is instrumental in bringing in major consignments from private collectors, estates, dealers and institutions. He has led the department to dozens of auction records, with a particular focus on Chicago Modernism. Mr. Stanfield has played an integral role in the development of the American & European and Post War & Contemporary Art categories, with the most successful year for the department in company history coming in 2021. He also oversaw a house record for total sales for a week of Fine Art auctions in May 2022. Mr. Stanfield is also the lead auctioneer for the Fine Art sales at Hindman. Prior to returning to Hindman in 2019, he was at Toomey & Co. for eight years, where he oversaw important collections including the estate of Candice B. Groot, the collection of Governor Jim Thompson, and the estate of Robert E. Beck. Mr. Stanfield earned a BA from the University of Kansas where he studied Art History.

Monica Brown

Managing Director, Vice President, Fine Art, Head of Department, Prints and Multiples

[email protected]303.825.1855

Ms. Brown rejoined the firm in 2019 as a senior specialist in the Fine Art department, where she has been the resident expert and Head of Sale for Prints and Multiples. She has over 17 years of art-market experience, most recently as founder of Monica Brown Fine Art. In addition to working for renowned auction houses, she has extensive knowledge in over five centuries of works on paper from her tenure at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and eight years of experience with one of London’s leading dealers of Pop Art editions.

Please email for any additional information or questions you may have regarding this lot.

Prints and Multiples

Femme Nue Cueillant des Fleurs (first and third state)

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