Decadence & Decay: Works from an Important Private Collection
Pablo Picasso
Dans l'Atelier de Picasso (see Cramer Books 88)
Auction Closed
May 18, 09:51 PM GMT
Estimate
350,000 - 500,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Decadence & Decay: Works from an Important Private Collection
Pablo Picasso
1881 - 1973
Dans l'Atelier de Picasso (see Cramer Books 88)
signed in red crayon 'Picasso,' numbered '37' on the colophon, also dedicated in colored crayon 'pour Lucie Weil son ami Picasso 19.12.58'
a truly exceptional, elaborately hand-colored copy of the deluxe edition of the book by Jaime Sabartés, including several full-sheet drawings, hand-colored lithographs and many sheets with marginalia in different colors of crayon, bound in an elaborate leather and wood veneer binding and slip case by Lucie Weill
sheets approx.: 17¼ by 12⅜ in. 43.9 by 31.5 cm.
overall: 17⅞ by 13½ by 1⅞ in. 45.4 by 34.3 by 4.9 cm.
Executed in 1957-58; this book number 37 from the deluxe edition of 50, there is also a regular edition of 200.
Claude Picasso has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Lucie Weill, Paris (acquired as a gift from the artist in 1958)
Rieunier & Associés, Paris, 22 March 2010, lot 3
Private Collection
This remarkable copy of Jaime Sabartés’s Dans l’Atelier de Picasso was dedicated to Parisian gallerist Lucie Weill. The Weills were prominent patrons of contemporary French art; Monsieur Weill published several deluxe editions of Picasso’s livres d’artiste. His legacy as a friend among artists was largely celebrated in an homage fronting an edition of John Cocteau’s Cahiers. Picasso’s friendship with the couple developed over many years of exhibiting his work at Lucie’s gallery located in the heart of bustling Saint-German-des-Prés., so it is fitting that he elaborately embellished and dedicated this copy to her.
Picasso renders a youthfulness in these subjects that recalls a whimsical side of the artist, one which can be at times eclipsed by the density of his more structural work. The charming images illustrate a warmth suggestive of the amicable relationship Picasso shared with the Weills.
