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Lot Essay
In Quatre personnages, a young man, lost in thought, stands next to three women typical of Picasso's fantasy world. The women have been arranged in the form of a triangle: one at the right is shown frontally, the upper one is reclining while the third is crawling towards us, clearly having developed from a male body. In composition and technique, this drawing is closely related to two other drawings that Picasso made the same day. Picasso's use of pen and India ink created sharp lines, which he mixed with patches of blurred execution. The general effect recalls the results obtainable with the drypoint and etching technique, which the artist probably considered as he was making this work.
When Picasso executed Quatre personnages, on the 2 October 1968, he was about to finish his largest print project, the 347 Series, which nowadays remains an emblematic achievement in print history. The series consists of 347 prints, realised in seven months, between the 16 March and the 5 October 1968. In this series, Picasso created a larger-than-life human comedy, revisiting his favourite themes: the circus, the abduction, the embrace and the artist's studio, where all his favourite and familiar characters reappear in various situations.
The present drawing is a tribute to Picasso's print-maker, Piero Crommelynck, who is the young man on the right. He is recognizable by his distinctive profile, long body and stylised shirt. Piero, and his brother Aldo, had installed their print atelier near the village of Mougins, where Picasso lived. Every morning they would bring some prepared plates to Picasso, who would then etch them. Following the printing, the etchings were sent to Galerie Leiris in Paris, which was at the time Picasso's gallery and publisher. The Crommelynck brothers sought to make Picasso's life as easy as possible, and were therefore instrumental in enabling the octogenarian master to accomplish his major print series.
n this drawing, Picasso explores, once more, one of his favourite subject: the interaction between woman and man in an intensely erotic encounter. Here, young Piero is watching, and exposed to Picasso's fantasies. In an essay Piero Crommelynck recalls the artist's obsession: 'All along his 'journal' there was a constant: the omniprescence of the feminine nude, subject Picasso wanted to tell everything about' (quoted in exh. cat. Picasso, Les 347. Collection Jean Planque, Vevey, 2001, p. 29).
Picasso's collaboration with the Crommelynck brothers was a great source of inspiration. When Pierre Daix asked Picasso, following the completion of the 347 Series, if he was done with printing, Picasso replied 'I have already started again, I have printed my print-maker with all his family' (see fig. 1) (quoted in Pierre Daix, La vie de peintre de Pablo Picasso, Paris, 1977, p. 394).
When Picasso executed Quatre personnages, on the 2 October 1968, he was about to finish his largest print project, the 347 Series, which nowadays remains an emblematic achievement in print history. The series consists of 347 prints, realised in seven months, between the 16 March and the 5 October 1968. In this series, Picasso created a larger-than-life human comedy, revisiting his favourite themes: the circus, the abduction, the embrace and the artist's studio, where all his favourite and familiar characters reappear in various situations.
The present drawing is a tribute to Picasso's print-maker, Piero Crommelynck, who is the young man on the right. He is recognizable by his distinctive profile, long body and stylised shirt. Piero, and his brother Aldo, had installed their print atelier near the village of Mougins, where Picasso lived. Every morning they would bring some prepared plates to Picasso, who would then etch them. Following the printing, the etchings were sent to Galerie Leiris in Paris, which was at the time Picasso's gallery and publisher. The Crommelynck brothers sought to make Picasso's life as easy as possible, and were therefore instrumental in enabling the octogenarian master to accomplish his major print series.
n this drawing, Picasso explores, once more, one of his favourite subject: the interaction between woman and man in an intensely erotic encounter. Here, young Piero is watching, and exposed to Picasso's fantasies. In an essay Piero Crommelynck recalls the artist's obsession: 'All along his 'journal' there was a constant: the omniprescence of the feminine nude, subject Picasso wanted to tell everything about' (quoted in exh. cat. Picasso, Les 347. Collection Jean Planque, Vevey, 2001, p. 29).
Picasso's collaboration with the Crommelynck brothers was a great source of inspiration. When Pierre Daix asked Picasso, following the completion of the 347 Series, if he was done with printing, Picasso replied 'I have already started again, I have printed my print-maker with all his family' (see fig. 1) (quoted in Pierre Daix, La vie de peintre de Pablo Picasso, Paris, 1977, p. 394).