'From Picasso's Sketchbook', Carnet De La Californie Lithograph After Pablo Picasso, 1960 Abrams Inc, New York,

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A stone lithograph from the first edition of 'Picasso's Sketchbook (Carnet de la California, 1955-1956)' which was limited to 1000 … Read more A stone lithograph from the first edition of 'Picasso's Sketchbook (Carnet de la California, 1955-1956)' which was limited to 1000 copies. Dated, in the design, November 19, 1955. Unsigned. Accompanied with a copy of the inside cover page and colophone with publishing information.

Around 1959, Editions Cercle d’Art published Carnet de la Californie, a facsimile of a sketchbook that Picasso worked on at his house in Cannes, La Californie. Printed at Mourlot Studios in Paris, this edition was prepared for the American market by publisher Harry N. Abrams, New York (1960).

With thanks to Claire Lui and the Guggenheim for the below:
Carnet de la Californie sheds light on Picasso’s interests and focus at the time. Over and over he returned to the same themes—copies of Old Masters, and drawings of a woman in Turkish clothing, which may have been variations for his painting Jacqueline in Turkish Costume (1955), a portrait of his second wife, Jacqueline Roque.

In 1954, the year before he started this sketchbook, Picasso began a series of paintings that were inspired by Eugene Delacroix’s painting The Women of Algiers in their Apartment (1834). Les Femmes d’Alger (1954–1955), Picasso’s eventual series of 15 paintings, were marked by the recent death of Henri Matisse, whose own work and interests colored much of Picasso’s work during this period. Picasso often depicted Jacqueline as an odalisque, a favorite theme of Matisse’s, and these sketches are a form of homage to Picasso’s late friend and rival.

Most often, though, the studio space in La Californie is his subject. Picasso drew the room in black and white, in color, with paint, and with pencils, drawing out variation after variation. The same elements reappear throughout the book—a bird statue, grand arched windows with a hint of the room’s ornate detailing, palm trees with gracefully curved branches, and even the same chairs, including a Thonet rocking chair that can also be seen in many of the artist’s paintings. Picasso told his biographer, Pierre Daix, “I thought so much about Les Femmes d’Alger that I bought La Californie.”

Carnet de la Californie was printed at Mourlot Studios, a famed lithographic print shop that specialized in artist collaborations—Picasso himself made more than four hundred lithographs at Mourlot between 1945 and 1969. Their reproduction of the sketchbook showcases the printmakers’ prowess: These lithographers, skilled at a printing process that had fallen out of favor during the 19th century due to the difficulty of using a stone plate to offset the image, were able to reproduce the brush strokes and pressure of the colored pencils with an accuracy that makes the book feel like an original. They even managed to capture the impressions from the pastels and paint that transferred from one page to the other when the notebook was closed.

The sketchbook was originally created for an audience of one: Picasso himself. The beautifully reproduced notebook is an unusual chance, for the rest of us, to observe the artist’s daily practice—a studio tour of his mind. See less