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Lot Essay
The present work is one of three Bon a Tirer impressions in the sale – the others being lots 76 and 81. To understand the significance of this designation it is important to understand the process by which etchings are made. Once an etched plate has been bitten by being immersed in acid, there follows an often lengthy process called ‘proofing’, in which the printer takes numerous trial impressions, varying the inking and wiping. The objective is to explore the creative potential of the plate and show the artist what it is capable of. Presented with a range of options, some lighter, some darker, some with a cold or warm black ink, some cleanly wiped, some with smoky, atmospheric plate-tone, the artist can decide through a process of elimination how they would like the finished version to look. By convention, the artist will signify the end of this exploratory stage by signing and annotating the impression that finally meets their expectations with the acronym B a T, short for Bon à Tirer, or Good to Print. This impression is used as the template for the entire edition. The present example is just such a template – the standard by which all other impressions were judged.
The plate was etched in 1953, but only three impressions were printed at the time. The plate lay undisturbed in the artist’s studio, amongst many others, until 1960, when Picasso and his partner Jacqueline Rocque, moved from Cannes to Notre-Dame-de-Vie in the south of France. The move uncovered the cache of unprinted plates. Together with his master printer Jacques Frélaut Picasso went through the group and selected approximately fifty that he thought were worthy of editioning. Approximately fifty impressions were printed from each plate at Roger Lacourière’s studio in 1960-61 (although some could print fewer because of the plates starting to wear). However, this and the other prints in the edition slipped back into obscurity because Picasso found the prospect of signing over 2500 impressions – delivered in one huge crate by his dealer Kahnweiler – too daunting to tackle. The crate – subsequently christened Caisse à Remords (box of remorse or regrets), was shunted to one side and promptly forgotten about, only to be unearthed after the artist’s death in 1973. It was only after a further eight years, in 1981, that the Galerie Louise Leiris, with the approval of the artist’s family, released the edition, with each impression bearing a stamp resembling the artist’s signature.
The present impression was pulled by Lacourière in 1960, in advance of the edition of fifty. According to Brigitte Baer, the fabled cataloguer of Picasso’s graphic work, this is the only impression known to have been signed by the artist.
The plate was etched in 1953, but only three impressions were printed at the time. The plate lay undisturbed in the artist’s studio, amongst many others, until 1960, when Picasso and his partner Jacqueline Rocque, moved from Cannes to Notre-Dame-de-Vie in the south of France. The move uncovered the cache of unprinted plates. Together with his master printer Jacques Frélaut Picasso went through the group and selected approximately fifty that he thought were worthy of editioning. Approximately fifty impressions were printed from each plate at Roger Lacourière’s studio in 1960-61 (although some could print fewer because of the plates starting to wear). However, this and the other prints in the edition slipped back into obscurity because Picasso found the prospect of signing over 2500 impressions – delivered in one huge crate by his dealer Kahnweiler – too daunting to tackle. The crate – subsequently christened Caisse à Remords (box of remorse or regrets), was shunted to one side and promptly forgotten about, only to be unearthed after the artist’s death in 1973. It was only after a further eight years, in 1981, that the Galerie Louise Leiris, with the approval of the artist’s family, released the edition, with each impression bearing a stamp resembling the artist’s signature.
The present impression was pulled by Lacourière in 1960, in advance of the edition of fifty. According to Brigitte Baer, the fabled cataloguer of Picasso’s graphic work, this is the only impression known to have been signed by the artist.