Printer: Mourlot (1 of 1,000 Editions)

Dimensions: 68 x 47 cm

Condition: Very good

Available: In an oak frame

Description: Few art dealers enjoyed a closer relationship with Picasso than Heinz Berggruen. His Paris gallery became one of the great destinations for collectors of modern art, and over many years he worked closely with Picasso, building a remarkable collection that would eventually form the Museum Berggruen in Berlin.

This original exhibition poster was published for Dessins d’un demi siècle (Drawings of a Half Century) at Galerie Berggruen in 1956. The image is a perfect example of Picasso’s extraordinary gift as a draughtsman. With just a handful of confident lines, he creates a portrait full of character, proving that the simplest drawings can often be the most expressive.

The exhibition brought together fifty years of Picasso’s drawings, celebrating one of the greatest draughtsmen of the twentieth century. It also marks the beginning of one of the art world’s most enduring partnerships, between an exceptional artist and the dealer who devoted much of his life to championing his work.

Artist: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. As one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, his extraordinary artistic genius made him the ‘rock star’ of the Modern Art world pioneering cubism, surrealism, expressionism and collage. Throughout his long career, he produced more than 20,000 paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, theatre sets, and costumes. From the mid-1940s, he also worked with the Mourlot studios in Paris and created over 400 lithographs and exhibition posters. As well as Fernand Mourlot, Henri Deschamps was Picasso's favourite and most trusted master printer at the studio and they collaborated together from 1945 right up until Picasso’s death in 1973.