Pablo Picasso
"Tête de femme n°2. Portrait de Dora Maar"
Lower right signed by the artist "Picasso" and above inscribed "Bon à tirer". Verso again signed in green pencil and inscribed "tête de femme IV" and "Lacourière 4"
Colour aquatint, scraper and drypoint on heavy Montval laid paper with watermark
29.9x23.9 cm, plate mark; 45x34 cm, sheet size
The four colour plates of this portrait of Dora Maar, Picasso’s companion, were created in March and April 1939. The red plate bears the date "20.4.39" In drypoint.
Between January and June 1939, Picasso created a total of seven portraits after his friend Dora Maar. All are in a similar format, executed in colour aquatint and supplemented by work in engraving, drypoint, and scraper (see detailed information in Baer, vol. III, nos. 648, 650 to 655). In 1939 Picasso planned an edition for each sheet and handed the "Bon à tirer" copies to his printer Lacourière in Paris. Presumably due to the outbreak of war in early September 1939, the editions were not printed immediately, but probably only in 1942. Because of the German occupation, Picasso kept the editions with him, without signing or numbering them. The editions were only found after Picasso’s death in one of his studios. Around 1955, the "Bon à tirer" copies went to an exhibition in Cannes and were sold there, against the wishes of the printer and owner, to the Swedish collector Göran Bergengren.
Brigitte Baer points out that the present sheet was certainly printed from only four plates, but that two of these plates were supplemented with additional colours "à la poupée".
Within Picasso’s graphic work, a rarity of the highest order and, in this form, a unique piece.
The “Bon à tirer” inscription
The lower-right inscription visible on your sheet is especially noteworthy. It appears to read:
“Bon à tirer / Picasso”
This indicates an artist-approved proof intended to serve as the model for the printer's edition. Auction documentation for this particular work identifies bon à tirer impressions signed by Picasso and explains that these proofs were given to his Parisian printer Roger Lacourière. The regular edition was apparently not published during Picasso's lifetime and was discovered in his estate after his death.
About Dora Maar:
Dora Maar (1907–1997) was a French photographer, artist, and Surrealist who became closely associated with Picasso during the late 1930s. Born Henriette Theodora Markovitch, she studied photography and art in Paris and established herself as an accomplished avant-garde photographer before meeting Picasso in 1936. Her work included fashion and documentary photography as well as experimental Surrealist photomontage.
Maar became Picasso's companion and muse from 1936 into the early 1940s and was the subject of numerous paintings and prints.
She also photographed and documented the development of Guernica, providing an important visual record of Picasso's working process. Her own artistic career, however, was substantial in its own right and has increasingly received scholarly attention independent of her relationship with Picasso.
Auction history:
Auction 13 June 1969, lot 81: sold CHF 205’000.-
Auction 22 June 1990, lot 113: sold CHF 380’000.-
Auction 18 June 2004, lot 126: sold CHF 260’000.-
