Pablo Picasso

Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 16 June 1972, lot 1009

Private Collection, New York (acquired at the above sale)

Acquired as a gift from the above by the present owner

Georges Bloch, Pablo Picasso, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographié, 1904-1967, vol. I, Bern, 1968, no. 1072, p. 224, illustration of another impression

Brigitte Baer, Picasso peintre-graveur, vol. V, Bern, 1989, no. 1318, pp. 457-59, illustration of another impression

Picasso experimented with printmaking throughout his lifetime, ceaselessly pushing the boundaries of etching and drypoint, as well as the painterly techniques of lithography and monotype. It wasn’t until the 1950s, however, that he turned to linoleum cut printing with guidance from Vallauris-based master printer Hidalgo Arnéra. Far from his Parisian printing presses, Picasso initially explored the relief method in 1952 to create posters advertising his own ceramic exhibitions and Southern France’s local bullfights.

Although the linoleum cuts comprise a relatively small part of Picasso's oeuvre as a printmaker, many of his most recognizable printed compositions were produced using this method during a burst of activity between 1958 and 1963. While exploring the themes of bullfights, bacchanalia, still-lifes, female heads and figure studies, Picasso worked alongside Arnéra, to whom the present work is dedicated, to revolutionize the medium and achieve unparalleled mastery in a series of brilliantly colored and richly textured works on paper.

Buste de Femme au Chapeau is among the artist's most impactful and accomplished prints from this period. Created in 1962 and inspired by Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s muse and second wife, the work’s bold coloring and arresting composition embody the artist’s continued innovation in the field. Although Picasso employed the traditional method in his earlier linoleum cuts, which requires a separate linoleum block for each printed color, by 1962 he had invented and mastered the “reduction” method, which allowed for multiple colors to be printed from a single block. The freedom provided by the resulting process allowed for the richer, layered tones and sharper contrasts that are evident in the present impression.