Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973)

Lot 5
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30000 - 40000 EUR
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Result : 107 900EUR
Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973)
The Grab Bar (four subjects for) Etching and sugar aquatint signed. [1936]. Proof : 31,5 x 21,5 cm - Size of the plate : 41,5 x 28,1 cm. Proof on vergé de Montval, justified in pencil by Picasso at the bottom left. Proof also dedicated and signed in pencil at the bottom right for Nusch Picasso. One of the very rare copies in colors dedicated by Pablo Picasso to Nusch Eluard. La Barre d'appui, collection of 8 poems by Paul Eluard, was illustrated with three etchings by Pablo Picasso and published in Paris in 1936, at Cahiers d'Art, at 40 copies. The plate features the portrait of Nusch Eluard in the upper left, what could be the portrait of Dora Maar in the upper right, Marie-Thérèse asleep by the sea in the lower right and Picasso's handprint in the lower left. In his book of memories, Sabartès tells the genesis of this engraving: "...Picasso took a copper plate of 215 mmm by 315 mm, he divided it into four equal parts by two perpendicular lines and began to fill the first rectangle with a very complicated composition. In the next one he sketched the portrait of Nusch and in no time he got rid of the third one by drawing a sleeping woman's head in the foreground and a landscape in the background. As the fourth part remains empty, he dips the palm of his hand in ink and applies it to the copper. Before cutting the plate in 4, thirteen copies of this aquatint with the three illustrations and the handprint of the author are printed." One of the very rare color proofs, printed in only a few copies. It is the one presented here, dedicated to Nusch Eluard, which is reproduced in Cramer's book, page 77. Another known print is dedicated to Yvonne Zervos. On the reverse of the frame is the annotation Paul Eluard in pencil. Exceptional. Provenance : Lucien Scheler Collection Bibliography : - Patrick Cramer, Picasso, les Livres illustrés, no. 26, pp. 76-77, our color print reproduced - Georges Bloch, Catalogue de l'œuvre gravé et lithographié 1904-1967, n° 295a - Kornfeld, Picasso painter engraver, Tome III, pp.84-85 Exhibitions : - Picasso painter, engraver and poet, Ingelheim-am-Rheim, 1981, n° 72 - Paul Eluard et ses amis Peintres, Centre Georges Pompidou, 4 November 1982 - 17 January 1983, reproduced on page 29 of the catalog. Reproduction © Succession Picasso 2023
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