1948 After Pablo Picasso "The Embrace", First Edition Period Parisian Offset Lithograph

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A stunning vintage period offset lithograph, print, after pastel painting L'Étreinte (The Embrace, 1903) by Pablo Picasso. Comes from a … Read more A stunning vintage period offset lithograph, print, after pastel painting L'Étreinte (The Embrace, 1903) by Pablo Picasso. Comes from a First Limited Edition art folio published by Editions du Chene in Paris, France in 1948. Edition N269. Printed on one side. Hand tipped-in on a board of heavy paper. Information regarding the original painting, in French, will be found by lifting the piece. Numbered on the board: IV. Excellent condition of the print; minor edge wear on the board; never framed.

Overall 10.95"W x 14.90"H
Image 6.30"W x 11.05"H

It was during a visit to Barcelona that Picasso produced the large pastel in the Musée de l’Orangerie entitled The Embrace. With dimensions not usually seen in Picasso’s pastels, it depicts a nude man and woman embracing in a bedroom painted in shades of blue and pink. Although we cannot distinguish the faces of these two figures, it is evident that the woman is expecting a child. This very tender scene is not, however, free from the deep melancholy that runs through the whole of Picasso’s Blue Period, which started in 1901. Picasso is said to have remarked of The Embrace: "What I want is that my picture should evoke nothing but emotion." The embrace is a recurrent theme in Picasso’s work from 1900 on, particularly in scenes of life in Montmartre. It is one of the major pieces in the Walter-Guillaume collection. The dealer and collector Paul Guillaume acquired it in 1930, the work having previously belonged to the famous art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939). We also know of drafts for this composition produced in the same year, rapid sketches now in the Musée National Picasso (MP 849-851), and of two similar compositions in stumped graphite pencil (MP 474), as well as a gouache on paper in a private collection. The theme of the embrace was a major inspiration for artists throughout Europe at the turn of the century. It can be seen in the work of Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Edvard Munch (1863-1944) and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, among others.

Provenance of the original painting: Ambroise Vollard, Paris; Paul Guillaume (1930); Domenica Walter.

On the subject of the editor: Editions du Chêne, Paris 1941, it is an occupied Paris which witnesses the emergence, 16, place Vendôme, of the Editions du Chêne. A risky bet given that its 21-year old founder was called Maurice Kahane, an atheist Jewish man who would then adopt the name of his mother, Girodias. The Chêne specialized itself by the edition of art books and literature. The Editions du Chêne would become a branch of the Hachette group in 1951. The edition of art books would then adopt pride of place. George Herscher takes over the Hachette house with enthusiasm in 1971. See less