Lot 45 Dα

“Picasso’s occupying himself with the linocut was indubitably the result of the artist’s wish to, for once, assign a preferential role to colour in his work as a printmaker […]. In this case – as always when undertaking experiments of this kind, whether in sculpture, lithography, ceramics or aquatint – he arrived at results which cannot be compared to anything that had existed before, except for early creations of Picasso himself” (Wilhelm Boeck, Pablo Picasso. Linolschnitte, new ed., Stuttgart 1988, p. V).
In 1958 Picasso began working intensively with this medium, which was new to him, and he repeatedly returned back to it until 1965. Motifs from his native Spain dominate the linocuts, for example, in the form of numerous subjects related to the bullfight. He also found inspiration in portraits by El Greco. In the spring of 1962, in addition to his interpretation of a self-portrait by El Greco (Baer 1320), he created two portraits of Jacqueline, his muse and second wife, dressed in the Spanish manner of the 16th century with a white ruff around her neck (“à la fraise”) – the first of these, the “Portrait de Jacqueline à la fraise”, is from 10 April and was made in shades of black and grey (Baer 1320). Three days later he developed this likeness into the magnificent print that we are able to offer here. Done on two linoleum plates with seven different colours and printed in eight steps, it is among the artist’s most elaborate sheets in colour. Picasso captures Jacqueline’s elegant features in a subtle play of colours displaying a jewel-like brilliance.
Picasso dedicated this copy printed outside the edition to his housekeeper Inès Sassier, who worked for him from 1936 until the end of his life and was his close friend and an important confidante.