106 / 200
436
●
PABLO PICASSO
Salome
.
Drypoint, 1905. 405x350 mm; 16x13
3
/
4
inches, full margins. Edition of 250.Van Gelder
watermark. Printed by Louis Fort, Paris. Published by Vollard, Paris. From
Saltimbanques
.
A superb impression with strong contrasts, significant burr on John the Baptist’s head and
the contours of the figures and crisp, inky plate edges.
Coinciding with his Rose Period (or Circus Period) of painting, Picasso’s first series of
etchings in 1905, generally known as
La Suite des Saltimbanques
, and created at the outset
of his career at only 24 years old, are mostly candid representations of the lives and private
moments of acrobats and gypsies. Picasso frequently attended the Cirque Médrano in
Montmartre, Paris, at the time and associated with the circus entertainers, just as he himself
had chosen to follow the bohemian life of an artist, on the fringe and as a performer—
needing to create works which would dazzle the art buying public—rather than pursue a
career as a young bourgeois professional as his family had intended for him. Bloch 14;
Geiser 17.
[12,000/18,000]