Printer: Mourlot (1 of 3000 Editions)

Dimensions: 50 x 65 cm

Condition: Very good 

Frame: Unframed

Description: An original lithograph created by Picasso in 1956 as the cover for the reference catalogue of his lithographs compiled by Fernand Mourlot. The project brought together four distinct designs, each reflecting subjects Picasso explored over the decades he worked with the Mourlot studio.
This variant is printed on an ochre ground and features a playful, lyrical composition, with figures that include a centaur, a faun, and a bacchic presence often interpreted as Picasso himself.

As a catalogue cover, the work was printed in a larger run than standard editions, with approximately 3,000 impressions produced, alongside a small number of proofs for the artist and printer. This example of the small print run remains in excellent condition and was never folded. 

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.