Tête de face (Portrait de Marie-Thérèse de face)

Details

Pablo Picasso
Tête de face (Portrait de Marie-Thérèse de face)
drypoint with aquatint, 1934, on Montval laid paper, watermark Picasso, signed and inscribed Bon á tirer/ 50 in red crayon, a fine impression of the second, final state, one of only three proof impressions before steel-facing printed by Lacourière in 1942, with wide margins, the full sheet, in very good condition
Plate 318 x 229 mm., Sheet 450 x 356 mm.

Literature

Bloch 276; Baer 417IIAc

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Alexandra Gill

agill@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3109

Lot Essay

This lyrical portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter was made in 1934. A formal edition, however, only seems to have been contemplated eight years later in 1942 when this Bon á tirer impression was pulled by the famous printer Lacourière. According to Brigette Baer fifty-five impressions were printed at this time (presumably an edition of fifty and five artist’s proofs) but never signed, probably due to the disruptions of the war. It was only in 1981 that an edition was published posthumously by Galerie Louise Leiris, with facsimile stamped signatures. This signed proof impression, before steel-facing, is therefore of the utmost rarity.

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