Prints and Multiples

Homme nu avec femme ivre et jeune flutiste Etching, 1955 Signature stamp lower right (see photo) Annotated in penci lower leftl: "epreuve d'artiste" (see photo) Inventory number vers...

Original vintage poster for the Solomon R Guggenheim New York Collection art exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris held from April to June 1958 - Collection S Guggenhe...

Etching and aquatint in colours, 1964, on Richard de Bas wove paper, signed in pencil and numbered 41/50 from the edition of 50, printed by Pennequin for Atelier Crommelynck, publish...

Artist: Pablo Picasso Title: La Danse (frontispiece) Portfolio: Picasso Lithographe III Medium: Transfer lithograph printed in colors Date: 1956 Edition: 3000 Frame Size: 19 1/2" x 1...

A composition resembling a collage, created by American Pop Artist Robert Rauschenberg. Multiple images of noteworthy American figures, such as the Kennedy family, are overlaid above...

Artist: Pablo Picasso Title: Bacchanale (back cover) Portfolio: Picasso Lithographe III Medium: Transfer lithograph Date: 1956 Edition: 3000 Frame Size: 20 ...

Medium: original lithograph. Catalogue reference Mourlot 98. Printed in 1950 at the Mourlot atelier and published as the frontispiece of the Picasso Lithographe II...

Grabbing the faces of one another, the two women in this Pablo Picasso print tenderly kiss one another. Seen in profile view from the position of the viewer, the scene is loving albe...

Pablo Picasso - Original Lithograph Title: The Ballet Dancer Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm 1954 Reference: Bloch 767 Frontispiece for the book "Le Ballet" (Paris: Editions Hachet, 1954) by...

Love-Zone (Reels [B + C]), 1968 Lithograph 27 x 23’’ Edition of 60

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1954 at the Mourlot Freres atelier and published in New York by The Noonday Press in an edition of 64 for the "Elegy of Ihpetonga and Masks of...

Kar, 1964 Lithograph 15 3/4 x 16 1/4” Edition of 44

"Celestine, Young Girl and Client," 1968 is an aquatint from Picasso's 347 Series. The image size is 3.5 x 5 inches and the framed size is 18.25 x 19.5 inches. Signed 'Picasso' lower...

Robert Rauschenberg Photos In+Out City Limits: Boston (hand signed by Robert Rauschenberg), 1981 Monograph held in slipcase (Hand signed in graphite pencil) Hand signed by Robert Rau...

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG Dream of William Burroughs, 1972 Offset lithograph 34 1/2 × 24 inches Edition 103/150 Signed, dated and numbered in black marker on the front Unframed Wonderful early 1970s print Words appearing in a dream of William Burroughs Co-published by Automation House and E.A.T., produced by Local One, Amalgamated Lithographers of America, New York Signed and numbered 103/150 in black marker This work is registered with the Robert Rauschenberg archives, reference number: RRF 72.E001 Text reads: THEY DID NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND THE TECHNIQUE. IN A VERY SHORT TIME THEY NEARLY WRECKED THE PLANET. More information about this work from the Rauschenberg Foundation: Lithopinion 26, the current affairs and graphic arts journal, dedicated its summer 1972 edition to the subject of “Our Transportation Mess.” Among the contributors were Theodore Kheel, who was a lawyer, leading labor mediator and arbitrator, as well as an environmentalist, and Senator Edward Kennedy. Kheel commissioned artists such as Romare Bearden, Christo, and Rauschenberg, his friend and client, to address the transportation system in the United States. Rauschenberg’s contribution was inspired by a dream that William Burroughs, the Beat writer, had described to him, and which resulted in the lithograph Dream of William Burroughs (1972) published by Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.). Surrounded by images of various modes of transportation, the lithograph includes the words: “They did not fully understand the technique / in a very short time they nearly wrecked the planet.” As an E.A.T. board member, Kheel understood, like Rauschenberg, that environmentalism and technology were not conflicting views but symbiotic relationships. In Lithopinion 26, E.A.T. stated that it “supports technology when it tries to help people achieve their human potentiality [and] criticizes it when it doesn’t.” About Robert Rauschenberg: Robert Rauschenberg ushered in a new era of postwar American art in the wake of Abstract Expressionism. His approach, along with that of his contemporary Jasper Johns, was sometimes termed “Neo-Dada,” due to its relation to both European forebears and the physical gestures of American Abstract Expressionists. His Combine works (1954 to early 1960s) blurred the distinctions between painting and sculpture, as their flat surfaces were augmented with discarded materials and appropriated images. Rauschenberg also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance, the last of which resulted in a number of collaborations with choreographers, including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Trisha Brown. Rauschenberg was among the founding members of the innovative group Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) in 1966, and in 1984 he established the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) to bring art to communities around the world, saying, “I feel strong in my beliefs, based on my varied and widely traveled collaborations, that a one-to-one contact through art contains potent peaceful powers, and is the most non-elitist way to share exotic and common information, seducing us into creative mutual understandings for the benefit of all.” Rauschenberg’s nontraditional art practice and creative energy generated an enduring influence that impacted generations of artists, as noted by art historian Branden W. Joseph: “Rauschenberg’s was a position with which artists across the board were confronted and to which they almost necessarily had to respond. … Rauschenberg’s work served as a stimulus, an impetus and a challenge.” Robert Rauschenberg was born in 1925, in Port Arthur, Texas and died on Captiva Island, Florida in 2008. He has had numerous exhibitions worldwide, including “Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997, traveled to Menil Collection, Contemporary Arts Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum Ludwig, Cologne and Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, through 1999); “Combines,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005, traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm in 2007); “Cardboards and Related Pieces,” Menil Collection, Houston (2007); “Traveling ‘70–‘76,” Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto (2008, traveled to Haus der Kunst, Munich, and Madre, Naples in 2009); “Gluts,” The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2009, traveled to The Tinguely Museum, Basel, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese in 2010); and “Botanical Vaudeville,” Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (2011). Gagosian Gallery first exhibited Robert Rauschenberg’s work in 1986. About William Burroughs William S. Burroughs was a Beat Generation writer known for his startling, nontraditional accounts of drug culture...

Original etching from the portfolio "Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide"publised by Skira in 1930. Catalogue Bloch Vol. I n. 108. Includes passepartout: cm. 49x34.

The Goldfinch is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 11.2 x 8.25 inches, unsigned as issued, and framed in a contemporary silver and gray moulding. One of about 36 prints that exist with Picasso's remarqued title in French, from the edition of 262 (there were 226 portfolios, some with additional sets on varying papers). Catalogue - Cramer #37 The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work. Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the Vollard Suite, but it was in the creation of the Buffon images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential. For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of The Wolf which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate). These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work Histoire Naturelle. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the Buffon came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art...

The Frog is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.6 x 7.9 inches,...

Pre-Morocco form the Eight by Eight portfolio is a lithograph on paper with an image size of 42 x 29 inches, signed 'RAUSCHENBERG 83' and annotated 92/250 lower right. From the editi...

Caucus is an offset lithograph on paper with an image size of 37 x 27 inches, framed in a contemporary, silver-tone frame 50.5 x 40.25 inches. From the edition of 190 - the art is si...

The Monkey is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.5 x 7.9 inche...

"The Embrace" is an aquatint on paper, image size 13.75 x 16.75 inches, signed 'Picasso' lower right and annotated lower left, and framed in a Spanish-style, closed-corner, black and...

The Lobster is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.6 x 7.9 inches, unsigned as issued, and framed in a contemporary silver and gray moulding. One of about 36 prints that exist with Picasso's remarqued title in French, from the edition of 262 (there were 226 portfolios, some with additional sets on varying papers). Catalogue - Cramer #37 The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work. Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the Vollard Suite, but it was in the creation of the Buffon images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential. For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of The Wolf which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate). These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work Histoire Naturelle. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the Buffon came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art...

Visage de femme Pomone Ed. 47/100 pcs 1968 Red earthenware clay, engobe ground, engraving enhanced with oxides under partial brushed glaze 31.5 x 31.4 cm Numbered, inscribed and sta...

The exhibition poster for the original posters by the masters of the École de Paris at the Maison de la Pensée Française in 1959, created by lege...

Portrait Imaginaire by Pablo Picasso

Artist: Pablo Picasso Medium: Transfer lithograph Title: La Pique (I) Portfolio: A Los Toros Avec Picasso Year: 1961 Framed Size: 17 1/2" x 20" Image Size: 8" x 10" Sheet Size: 9" x ...

"Bacchanale with Acrobat" is a linocut on paper with an image size of 21 x 25 inches, signed 'Picasso' lower right, and framed in a Spanish-style, closed-corner, black and gold frame. One of about 20 signed artist proofs in the edition (there were also 50 Arabic). Catalogues - Bloch vol. I, #933; Baer vol. V, #1264 Picasso’s linocut prints...

Original vintage art exhibition poster for Picasso Dessins 1966-1967 Drawings at the Galerie Louise Leiris 47 Rue de Monceau Paris VIII held fro...

The Spider is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.5 x 8 inches, unsigned as issued, and framed in a contemporary silver and gray moulding. One of about 36 prints that exist with Picasso's remarqued title in French, from the edition of 262 (there were 226 portfolios, some with additional sets on varying papers). Catalogue - Cramer #37 The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work. Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the Vollard Suite, but it was in the creation of the Buffon images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential. For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of The Wolf which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate). These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work Histoire Naturelle. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the Buffon came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art...

The Bull is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.15 x 8.5 inches...

Hand Signed and numbered. Edition of 150 pieces. Bloch 1139. Excellent condition.

"Painter and Model with Necklace" is an intaglio print on paper, comprised of etching, aquatint and drypoint technique. The image size is 11.5 x 14.75 inches and the framed size meas...

"La Comedie Humaine VIII" Lithograph in Color on Thick Wove Paper After The Original. The plates executed under the direct supervision of Pablo Picasso. First edition, 1954. Printed ...

Pablo Picasso - Original Lithograph La Petite Corrida (The Small Bullfight) 1958 Edition of 2000, unsigned Published in the journal XXe Siecle Dimens...

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) Chouette (A. R. 48) Terre de faïence dish, 1948, numbered 145/200, with the workshop numbering, glazed and painted, with the Edition Picasso and Madoura s...

Pablo Picasso (1881-1873) Le Garou Numbered on the reverse Phototype and Pochoir 16 x 11.5 inches 957/1000

Not Signed. Not Numbered. Edition of 225 pieces. Etching - aquatint. Belongs to the Suite "Histoire Naturelle de Buffon". Catalogue Bloch n.339. Passepartout included.

By Pablo Picasso Intaglio Etching pair, edition 116/850, Dated 1937 Signed and numbered in pencil Image size 14" x 18" each Frame Size: 25.5" X 29" Entri...

Artist: Pablo Picasso Title: Bacchanale (front cover) Portfolio: Picasso Lithographe III Medium: Transfer lithograph Date: 1956 Edition: 3000 Frame Size: 20 3/4" x 17 3/4" Sheet Size...

This piece was among thousands of works inherited by Marina Picasso, the artist’s granddaughter, after his death. Marina has been instrumental in preserving Picasso’s legacy, placing...

"At the Circus with Dancing Odalisque" is an etching from Picasso's 347 Series, image size 6.5 x 8.75 inches, signed 'Picasso' lower right and annotated lower left and framed in a Sp...

The Lizard is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.5 x 8.15 inch...

The Vulture is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.6 x 8 inches, unsigned as issued, and framed in a contemporary silver and gray moulding. One of about 36 prints that exist with Picasso's remarqued title in French, from the edition of 262 (there were 226 portfolios, some with additional sets on varying papers). Catalogue - Cramer #37 The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work. Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the Vollard Suite, but it was in the creation of the Buffon images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential. For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of The Wolf which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate). These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work Histoire Naturelle. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the Buffon came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art...

"Americana" is a major and consistent theme in Robert Rauschenberg's oeuvre. The artist embraces it, expounds on it, subverts it and dissects it. Not surprisingly political elemen...

This piece is an original linoleum cut in color by Pablo Picasso, 1962. It is hand signed and numbered 40/50 from the edition of 50; there were also 35 ar...

"Figure with Female Nude" is an oroginal lithograph taken from Picasso's Verve 29/30 series in 1954. It is printed by Mourlot in Paris, not signed, but from the same lithographic stone. Dated. Limited edition 75. It comes beautifully framed with a high-end mat in excellent condition. Picasso made the original ink and brush drawings of bullfighting in the Château of Vauvenargues, near Aix-en-Provence, where he and his partner Jacqueline Roque...

Etching on Montval with watermark "Vollard" Hand Signed in pencil. One of 260 proofs Ref. Catalogue Bloch n.135; Baer 195 B.d.; Belongs to the "Suite Vollard". Édition Ambroise V...

"Around the Unknown Masterpiece" is an aquatint on paper from Picasso's 347 Series, with an image size of 9 x 12.75 inches, signed 'Picasso' lower right and annotated lower left, fra...

"Mon Dieu, quel homme, qu'il est petit..." is an aquatint from Picasso's 347 Series with an image size of 2.3 x 3.3 inches, signed 'Picasso' lower right, and ...

color lithograph on Arches paper, edited in 1963 Limited edition of 200 copies signed in pencil by artist in lower right corner and numbered 167/200 in lower left corner paper size: : 88,9 x 62,9 cm excellent conditions with strong deep colors Bibliography: – Miguel Orozco Lithographs Catalogue Raisonné No 125 pag 93 – Picasso & LA PRESSE...

The Deer is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.5 x 8.15 inches, unsigned as issued, and framed in a contemporary silver and gray moulding. One of about 36 prints that exist with Picasso's remarqued title in French, from the edition of 262 (there were 226 portfolios, some with additional sets on varying papers). Catalogue - Cramer #37 The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work. Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the Vollard Suite, but it was in the creation of the Buffon images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential. For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of The Wolf which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate). These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work Histoire Naturelle. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the Buffon came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art...

"Nude Seated Cross-Legged and 'Grotesque' with Hand on Heart" is an etching from Picasso's 347 Series with an image size of 6 x 8 inches, signed 'Pic...

The Rooster is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.6 x 8.15 inc...

Sheet dimensions: 70x50 cm. Hand Signed. Not Numbered. Edition of 250 pieces. Belongs to the series "Suite Vollard", probably the most popular and appreciated graphic suite by Picass...

Robert Rauschenberg I Love New York, 2001 (LARGE) Plate signed on the front Offset lithograph on high quality wove paper 39.25" x 25 inches (This ship...

The Turkey is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.8 x 7.9 inches, unsigned as issued, and framed in a contemporary silver and gray moulding. One of about 36 prints that exist with Picasso's remarqued title in French, from the edition of 262 (there were 226 portfolios, some with additional sets on varying papers). Catalogue - Cramer #37 The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work. Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the Vollard Suite, but it was in the creation of the Buffon images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential. For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of The Wolf which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate). These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work Histoire Naturelle. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the Buffon came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art...

The Sparrow Hawk is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.5 x 8 inches, unsigned as issued, and framed in a contemporary silver and gray moulding. One of about 36 prints that exist with Picasso's remarqued title in French, from the edition of 262 (there were 226 portfolios, some with additional sets on varying papers). Catalogue - Cramer #37 The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work. Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the Vollard Suite, but it was in the creation of the Buffon images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential. For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of The Wolf which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate). These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work Histoire Naturelle. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the Buffon came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art...