Rauschenberg - Signs of the Times

Robert Rauschenberg - Signs - 1970 - Screenprint Signed

Robert Rauschenberg’s“Signs” 1970, is one of the most sought after Rauschenberg screenprints because of the artwork’s incredible iconographic imagery and historical significance. "Signs" was originally commissioned by Time Magazine, with the intention that it would be used as the January edition cover for the year 1970. After considering the final composition, the executives at Time Magazine found the piece was more politically charged than they had hoped and decided against using it. It was felt that the composition, though stunning, was more of a recapitulation of the 1960’s than a welcome to the new decade.

After the dismissal by Time Magazine, Robert Rauschenberg’s trusted dealer Leo Castelli convinced him to print a limited edition screenprint of “Signs”. The edition was published by Leo Castelli in New York in an edition of 250; each signed, dated ‘70’, and numbered in pencil.

“Signs” is an astounding collage encompassing the monumental events and people of 1960’s America. Rauschenberg masterfully juxtaposes scenes of innovation like the moon landing with the destructive violence of the war in Vietnam and the civil rights movement. The revolutionary nature of the era is pronounced through the images of peace protestors at the top, whose rallies for change and peace are echoed by the voice of Janis Joplin deeply singing into her microphone. The iconic leaders of the era including JFK and his brother Bobbie Kennedy challenge the divisive violence of the wars and civil unrest, even as their forms and images transition into the faces of martyrs. The “Signs” of this transformative decade are woven seamlessly by Rauschenberg, and the screen print is known as one of his most important works of art.

Permanent Museum Collections:

Smithsonian Institute of Art
Museum of Modern Art New York (MOMA)
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

National Gallery of Australia


DENIS BLOCH FINE ART is please to offer a number of original
signed prints by Robert Rauschenberg.

Click Here To View The Collection!

Art Terms Decoded: What is a Triptych?

Duccio di Buoninsegna c. 1280
"Madonna and Child"
Location: National Gallery, London, England 

The etymological origins of the art term "Triptych" (pronounced "trip-tick") spawns from the Greek adjective τρίπτυχον  or "Three Fold". This perfectly defines the nature of a triptych - which is a three paneled or three sectioned work of art.



Master of Frankfurt c. 1510-1520
"HolyFamily with musical Angel, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Barbara"
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

The three pieces in a triptych can be separate pieces or can be conjoined or hinged together. The hinged triptych was an extremely popular and standard format in early Christian alter pieces from the middle ages onward. In these traditional Christian alter pieces the middle panel was generally the largest panel flanked by two smaller panels on either side which could be displayed opened or closed. The center panel was generally the most important scene, often a motif of the Virgin and Child or Jesus, while the smaller side panels were dedicated to admiring saints.

Roy Lichtenstein "As I Opened Fire" 1964

The modern format of the triptych is usually three coordinating pieces on wood panels, canvases, or even works on paper. The three pieces can be different sizes but are often the same size and shape. The triptych composition may consist of three separate images or could also be one composition separated into the three panels. One of the most noted triptychs of the 20th Century is Francis Bacon's triptych painting from 1969, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which broke the record for the highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction at $142.4 million.

Francis Bacon "Three Studies of Lucien Freud" 1969

 

For more information about fine art collecting and art terms visit our website:

 

WWW.DENISBLOCH.COM

 

Developing the Abstract - Frank Stella Biography

Frank Stella - Cantahar - 1998

American Abstract Artist Frank Stella was born in Malden, MA in 1936. Frank Stella is a highly regarded and collected Abstract artist known for his large–scale freestanding sculptures, architectural structures, and the most complex original prints ever realized in the medium of printmaking.

 

Frank Stella began painting in his sophomore year of high school at the Philips Academy in Andover, MA. Stella continued taking fine art courses at Princeton University, while majoring in history. While in school, Frank Stella visited numerous influential art exhibitions in the galleries of New York City. Frank Stella´s artistic development was directly shaped by the Abstract Expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, and in 1958 Stella moved to New York.  

Frank Stella - Untitled - 1967

Upon moving to New York City, Stella reacted against the expressive use of paint by most painters of the abstract expressionist movement, instead finding himself drawn towards the "flatter" surfaces of Barnett Newman's art and the "Target" paintings by Jasper Johns. Stella gained early and immediate recognition in 1959 with his series of black pinstriped paintings that turned the gestural brushwork and existential angst of Abstract Expressionism on its head. Several of Frank Stella´s "black paintings" were included in major art exhibitions including: "Three Young Americans" at the Allen Memorial Museum at Oberlin College, and "Sixteen Americans" at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. The Black Paintings served as an important catalyst for Minimalist art of the 1960s.

In 1959 Frank Stella joined fine art dealer Leo Castelli´s gallery of artists, and in 1960 Stella began painting artworks in aluminum and copper paint as well. Stella´s art aesthetic steadily developed as he introduced a wider range of colors, typically arranged in straight or curved lines. Stella eventually created his paintings on shaped canvases (canvases in a shape other than the traditional rectangle or square), often being in L, N, U or T–shapes. In 1965 Frank Stella´s art was included in "The Shaped Canvas" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and "Systemic Painting" of 1966. Stella´s shape canvases developed into more elaborate designs, in the Irregular Polygon series of 1967.


Frank Stella - Harran II - 1967

In 1971 Stella developed his Protractor Series, in which arcs, sometimes overlapping, within square borders are arranged side–by–side to produce full and half circles painted in rings of concentric color. These paintings are named after circular cities he had visited while in the Middle East. Frank Stella´s Irregular Polygon canvases and Protractor Series further extended the concept of the shaped canvas. The shaped canvases took on even less regular forms in the Eccentric Polygon series as elements of collage were introduced. Stella´s artwork became more three–dimensional to the point where he started producing large, free–standing metal wall sculptures. As the 1970s and 1980s progressed, these became more elaborate and exuberant, marked by curving forms, Day–Glo colors, and scrawled brushstrokes. From the mid–1980s to the mid–1990s, Stella created a large body of paintings, sculptures, and original prints that responded in a general way to Herman Melville´s Moby–Dick.




Frank Stella - Extracts - 1993

Starting in the mid–1960s Frank Stella launched his extended involvement with printmaking, working first with master printer Kenneth Tyler at Gemini G.E.L. Stella would continue to produce original prints for the duration of his artistic career, and in 1973 he had a print studio installed in his New York house. Frank Stella's abstract prints in lithography, screenprinting, etching and offset lithography had a strong impact upon printmaking as a fine art.



Frank Stella - Sanor - 1996

Additionally Frank Stella is heralded for his large free–standing sculptures for public spaces from the 1990´s including: the 10,000–square–foot mural for Toronto´s Princess of Wales Theatre; his 5,000–square–foot "Stella Project" which serves as the centerpiece of the theater and lobby of the Moores Opera House on the campus of the University of Houston, in Houston, TX; and Frank Stella´s monumental sculpture was installed outside the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Frank Stella's virtually relentless experimentation has made him a key figure in American modernism, helping give rise to such developments as Minimalism, Post–Painterly Abstraction, and Color Field painting. In 2009 Frank Stella was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama, and in 2011 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture by the International Sculpture Center. Frank Stella continues to live and work in New York.

"A sculpture is just a painting cut out and stood up somewhere." – Frank Stella

Select Museum Collections:

Art Institute of Chicago
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, DC
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Tate Gallery, London

Mr. Brainwash Biography

Mr. Brainwash ("MBW") is the pseudonym for the graffiti street artist Thierry Guetta.

Mr. Brainwash was born in France in 1966, and has become one of American's most popular 'street art' artists. Originally a videographer, Mr. Brainwash began his career in 1999 documenting the lives and artwork of various graffiti street artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey. Mr. Brainwash has collected hours of footage often risking his own neck following graffiti artists creating their street art.  

Shortly after his initial introduction to Banksy, Mr. Brainwash made the decision to transition from art lover to artist as depicted in the film “Exit Through the Gift Shop”. Mr. Brainwash soon graduated from a few hand drawn stickers to making giant sized paste-ups, and his iconic pop graffiti art is now seen on the streets and art galleries of New York and Los Angeles.

The film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” as well as Mr. Brainwash and his relationship with the street artist Banksy is shroud in great controversy and mystery. There has been debate over whether the documentary is genuine or a mockumentary, although Banksy answers "Yes" when asked if the film is real.

Mr. Brainwash - Tomato Spray

Mr. Brainwash's uniformly subversive style fuses historic pop imagery and contemporary cultural iconography to create his own pop art - graffiti hybrid. The development of this style has catapulted Brainwash to international stardom. Mr. Brainwash's first solo show 'Life is Beautiful' was held in Los Angeles in June 2008, showing over 100 artworks. In addition to Mr. Brainwash’s widely recognized iconic art images, Life is Beautiful featured larger than life art installations which included a 20-foot robot made of old televisions, and a life-size recreation of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and a pyramid made from 20,000 books. Originally scheduled to open for only two weeks, the art exhibit was extended for three months, attracting more than 30,000 visitors.

Mr. Brainwash's graffiti -styled art has continued to garner recognition from art collectors and street art enthusiasts alike. In 2009, Mr. Brainwash collaborated with Madonna on her Greatest Hits album, creating the cover art for Celebration.

Mr. Brainwash - Love is the Answer

In 2010, Mr. Brainwash opened his second art exhibition ICONS in New York City. The show featured Mr. Brainwash’s paintings and silkscreens of world icons such as Madonna, Charlie Chaplin, and Albert Einstein, as well as portraits of music legends constructed of broken records and large-scale sculptural installations such as a giant boom box and a NYC cab in a life-sized Matchbox packaging. The sold-out art exhibition was extended until early May 2010. Not only were major art collectors acquiring Mr. Brainwash's paintings and prints but also prestigious auction houses. In the Fall of 2010 Mr. Brainwash made two significant auction sales for his unique paintings. The smaller of the two pieces featured a portraiture style depiction of model Kate Moss selling for $67,000. The larger piece continued Brainwash's fascination with Albert Einstein and featured the historic physicist in a front of a graffiti adorned wall holding a sign reading “Love is the Answer”. The work sold for well above the pre-auction estimates for $120,000.

Mr. Brainwash currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Note:

An interesting note on Mr. Brainwash’s unique signature and authentication – Mr. Brainwash has a series of additions to his signature to help further authenticate his original artworks. On the back of every unique piece he stamps his thumb print and adds a numbered code from a dollar bill. The bill is then cut in two, one half is given to the owner of the piece and the other is kept at Mr. Brainwash’s estate for future authentication. Any unique piece sold by Denis Bloch Fine Art will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity as well as the dollar bill.

A smARTer Investment

Jeff Koons, Cracked Egg (Red), 2008

If you’d added a few fine artworks to your portfolio over the last few years, instead of all those bank stocks, your retirement nest egg might be looking a little different right now.

Let’s face it, the stock market rollercoaster, particularly in the last month has left the average investor nauseous and contemplating getting off the ride all together (if not already). In many cases the market volatility has driven investors to alternative investment markets like gold and Fine Art.

Fine Art has been an attractive investment for centuries and is becoming increasingly recognized as it has outperformed more conservative investments over the last few decades. It is an alternative investment earning capital gains rather than a dividend.

Indeed, for the last ten years, the price index of all Fine Art works sold more than once worldwide has produced a nearly 11% annualized return, outperforming the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of large cap stocks and most other asset classes, including bonds and commodities.

Marc Chagall, Multiflore, 1974

Fine Art, including paintings, sculpture, original prints and photography is a very interesting long-term asset class. Indeed, investment-grade art enjoys a low correlation with other asset classes, including stocks and bonds, strengthening its case as a candidate for portfolio diversification. And some maintain they can act as an inflation hedge, since “real assets” (like gold) tend to rise in value while the value of money falls.
Since the end of World War II the value of Fine Art works has appreciated enormously. Quality works of art have proved to be a remarkable store of value. This is predominantly due to increasing rarity caused by an expanding demand from museums and collectors, and dwindling supplies.

Before you even think about putting down money, however, it’s important to educate yourself on the forces affecting the art market overall. The best advice is to talk to seasoned collectors and professionals in the industry. Go to the galleries and ask questions. Get involved with the museum and befriend the curator. An educated consumer is going to be best equipped to maneuver in this marketplace.

If, as it is more likely the case, you want to invest your money in something that you also like the look of,
(which I recommend!), make sure that your heart doesn’t rule your head and you buy something that looks pretty but is unlikely to ever accrue in value or worse yet decrease.

On that note, beware of galleries and dealers promoting artists with niche bubble markets. There is a reason we have not seen some very “popular” commercial artists in any major Contemporary Museums – the following of these types of artists is purely promotional, and their value is backed by the people marketing them, not by an actual global market. Over time these types of mega-marketed commercial artists will fall victim to the tastes of the market and will be virtually worthless.

Jim Dine, Fortress of the Heart, 1981-82

It is important to note that the high end of the market is not at the mercy of public taste. The art market has its blue-chip investments (museum artists) and these quality investments will bring a reliable return. Of course, the entry point can be higher. Artwork that emanates from more mature markets, such as Museum Class Master Paintings, can cost anywhere from $10,000 to many millions depending on the artist.



Picasso Linocuts featured at the MOMA 2009

The alternative is the investment in Museum Class Master Graphics or Original Prints with an entry point in the $1,000 level. Of course even great Prints are now expensive, but I’d recommend those! The best ones generally increase in value the most. From a return on investment standpoint, it’s also good advice to buy the best piece you can afford. The market has become much more selective, with an emphasis on quality.

Sonia Delaunay Biography: Textiles, Design, and Prints



Sonia Delaunay Original Print -
Composition with Semi-circles



Artist Sonia Delaunay-Terk was born in present day Ukraine on November 14th, 1885 under the surname Stern. At a young age Sonia Delaunay moved to St. Petersburg, where she was cared for by her mother's brother, Henri Terk, a successful and affluent Jewish lawyer. Henri Terk and his wife Anna adopted Sonia Delaunay in 1890 when she assumed the name Sonia Terk. Sonia Delaunay-Terk received a privileged upbringing with the Terks, traveling widely throughout Europe where Sonia Delaunay was introduced to art museums and art galleries.

Sonia Delaunay Etching -
Composition with Circles

When Sonia Delaunay was 18, she was sent to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, Germany. Sonia Delaunay studied in at the Art Academy until 1905 when she decided to join the Modern Art movement at Montparnasse in Paris. Sonia Delaunay was deeply influenced by the post-impressionist art of Van-Gogh, Gauguin, and Henri Rousseau as well as the artists of the Fauves group including Henri Matisse.

During Sonia Delaunay’s first year in Paris Sonia Delaunay met, and married, German homosexual art gallery owner Wilhelm Uhde. It is assumed that Sonia Delaunay’s marriage to Uhde was a marriage of convenience to escape the demands of her parents, who disliked her artistic career. Through Uhde's gallery Sonia Delaunay gained entrance into the Parisian art world and benefitted from his connections, and Uhde masked his homosexuality through his public marriage to Sonia. Through her connections Sonia Delaunay met prominent artists of the modern art movement including: Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Georges Rouault, and Maurice de Vlaminck.

Sonia Delaunay met painter Robert Delaunay in early 1909. Sonia and Robert became lovers in April of the same year and it was decided that Sonia Delaunay and Uhde should divorce. The divorce was finalized in August 1910. In November of 1910 Sonia and Robert Delaunay were married. Sonia Delaunay was pregnant with their son Charles who was born on January 18, 1911. Sonia Delaunay made a patchwork quilt for Charles' crib, which is now in the collection of the Musee National d'Art Moderne in Paris. Sonia Delaunay’s quilt was created spontaneously and exemplifies Sonia Delaunay’s use of geometry and color in her textiles, paintings, and original prints.

Sonia Delaunay Aquatint -
Composition with Triangles

Contemporary art critics recognize this as the point where Sonia Delaunay moved away from perspective and naturalism in her art. Robert & Sonia Delaunay became associated with the development of Orphism, a highly abstract art movement which paralleled the geometry of Cubism but with a much brighter color palette. It is said that artist Paul Klee was so taken with Sonia Delaunay’s’ patterning of squares from a 1912 illustrated book, that they became an enduring feature in Klee’s own art.
During the 1910-1920s, Sonia Delaunay focused on bringing this new artistic lyricism into the world of design, transforming Art Deco fabrics into vibrant high fashion clothing, wall coverings, furniture textiles as well as, theatrical costumes. In 1917 Sonia Delaunay met Sergei Diaghilev, and Sonia Delaunay designed costumes for his productions of Cleopatra and Aida.
The Russian Revolution brought an end to the financial support Robert & Sonia Delaunay received from Sonia’s family in Russia, and a different source of income was needed. Sonia Delaunay made clothes for private clients and friends, and in 1923 created fifty fabric designs using geometrical shapes and bold colors, commissioned by a manufacturer from Lyon. Sonia Delaunay’s customers included Nancy Cunard, Gloria Swanson, Lucienne Bogaert and Gabrielle Dorziat.

In the 1930s, Sonia Delaunay returned her focus on painting, joining the Abstraction-Creation group in seeking to create an art based upon non-representational elements, often geometrical, and continuing to focus on color as central to painting. The group was trans-national, and including among its members: Jean Arp, Barbara Hepworth, Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. In 1937 Sonia & Robert Delaunay collaborated on a mural for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne.

Sonia Delaunay Print -
Geometric Composition

In 1941 Robert Delaunay died of cancer. After Robert death, Sonia Delaunay continued to work and exhibit regularly as a painter & designer, turning often to printmaking including: etchings, lithographs, and pochoirs prints. In 1963 Sonia Delaunay donated 58 of her own works and 40 of Robert Delaunay’s to the Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris. Sonia Delaunay became the first woman ever to be exhibited at the Louvre during her lifetime when the museum mounted an exhibition of the works in 1964.

In 1966 Sonia Delaunay printed Rythmes-Couleurs with 11 of her gouaches produced as pochoir prints, with texts by Jacques Damase. In 1969 Sonia Delaunay printed Robes poemes, also with texts by Jacques Damase containing 27 Sonia Delaunay prints.

Sonia Delaunay-Terk died in 1979 at the age of 94 with no regrets in her life.

Sonia Delaunay’s work in modern design included the use of geometric abstraction in the integration of furniture, fabrics, wall coverings, clothing, prints, lithographs, and etchings.

Sonia Delaunay was the subject of a recent Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.


Select Museum Collections:
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, DC
Tate Gallery, London
Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid
Louvre, Paris

Tom Wesselmann - The Great American Nude

Monica with Motherwell, 1994 Serigraph

 "Personality would only be distraction from the simple fact of nudity. When I create physical details like lips or nipples, they are of importance for the erotic simplification. From the beginning I never gave them faces. A face gives personal touch to a sexual act, makes it a portrait act. And that, I don´t like at all."
                                                             – Tom Wesselmann

Tom Wesselmann, an American born painter, sculptor, and printmaker, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1931. Tom Wesselmann studied psychology at the University of Cincinnati and also took art classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Wesselmann had originally intended to become a cartoonist, but instead turned to painting.
 

Claire sitting Robe Half Off (Portfolio 90), 1993 Screenprint

 From 1956-1959 Tom Wesselmann continued his art studies at the Cooper Union in New York. While studying in New York, Wesselmann quickly informed himself about modern art by visiting the museums where the art of Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning made a lasting impact on Wesselmann. In 1957 Tom Wesselmann met Claire Selley, another Cooper Union student who was to become his friend, model, and later, his wife. After graduating, Tom Wesselmann became one of the founding members of the Judson Gallery, along with Marc Ratliff and artist Jim Dine.

In 1961 Tom Wesselmann began working on his series the Great American Nude. After a dream concerning the phrase "red, white, and blue", Tom Wesselmann decided to paint a Great American Nude in a palette limited to those colors and any colors associated with patriotic motifs such as gold and khaki. Tom Wesselmann’s Great American Nude series incorporated representational images with an accordingly patriotic theme, such as American landscape photos and portraits of founding fathers. Often these nudes were collaged from magazines and discarded posters, and were very large scale. Tom Wesselmann had his first solo art show at the Tanager Gallery in New York later that year, representing both the large and small Great American Nude collages.

Tom Wesselmann would soon emerge as one of the leading figures in American Pop Art along with fellow artists Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jim Dine and Alex Katz among others. Tom Wesselmann never liked his inclusion in American Pop Art, pointing out how he made an aesthetic use of everyday objects and not a reference to them as consumer objects.

Still Life with Petunias, Lilies and Fruit, 1988 Screenprint

In 1962, Tom Wesselmann participated in the New Realists art exhibition, which included art by the American Pop artists Jim Dine, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol; and Europeans such as Arman and Christo. Wesselmann contributed two Still Life collages to the art exhibition. That year, Wesselmann had begun working on a new series of Still Lifes, experimenting with assemblage as well as collage.



Still Life with Liz (Portfolio 90), 1993 Screenprint

Tom Wesselmann's subjects are characteristically overtly sexual and Wesselmann is best known for his artworks where the nude becomes a depersonalized sex symbol set in a commonplace environment. Wesselmann would emphasize the woman's nipples, mouth and genitals with the rest of the body depicted in flat, unmodulated color.

Bedroom Blonde, 1997 Serigraph

During the late 1960s and early 1970s Tom Wesselmann worked constantly on the 'Bedroom Painting Series' in which elements of his 'Great American Nude', 'Still Lifes' and 'Seascapes' were juxtaposed. With these artworks Wesselmann began to concentrate on a few details such as hands, feet and breasts surrounded by flowers and objects. A major motivation of the 'Bedroom Paintings' was to shift the focus and scale of the attendant objects around a nude; these objects are relatively small in relation to the nude, but become major, even dominant elements when the central element is a body part.

Nude with Bouquet and Stockings, 1992 Screenprint

Tom Wesselmann was a highly inventive printmaker who favored the screenprint or serigraph, but also worked in unconventional formats, such as blind embossing and mixograph relief prints. These large scale prints mirror the boldness of Wesselmann’s unique paintings and embody the vitality, openness and free spirit of the sixties.

Following surgery for Wesselmann’s heart condition, Tom Wesselmann died on December 17, 2004.

Select Museum Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Tate Gallery, London
Haifa Museum, Israel
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Le Repas Frugal (The Frugal Meal) by Pablo Picasso

Le Repas Frugal, 1904
Etching
Image: 46.3 x 37.7 cm



Poised between Pablo Picasso’s two most significant periods, Le Repas Frugal (The Frugal Meal) by Pablo Picasso represents a pivotal point in the Pablo Picasso’s printmaking oeuvre. As part of Picasso’s first suite/series of etchings, entitled La Suite des Saltimbanques, Le Repas Frugal contains elements of both Picasso’s Blue Period, marked by its melancholic introspection, and Picasso’s Rose Period, characterized by Pablo Picasso’s fascination with strolling acrobats or players. The bohemian life of those who lived on the edge of society was important to the young struggling Picasso as he too frequented the circus, the theater and music halls to escape from his impoverished lifestyle.



Les Pauvres (Saltimbanques Suite), 1905
Etching
23.6 x 18 cm

The Frugal Meal portrays an iconic image of a starving couple with a meager spread. The nearly skeletal man looks to the side as he comforts his female companion, perhaps denying their dire circumstance and blind with the hope of a better tomorrow. The woman stares with tired but tearless eyes, engaging an empathy that can only be acquired by a human diligently struggling to maintain dignity in the face of destitution. Other etchings from the Saltimbanques Suite also portray these scenes of insolvent social outsiders.



The Frugal Meal

displayed at the MOMA, April 2010

Executed in only two states, The Frugal Meal etching possesses a remarkable confidence and skill that belies Picasso's lack of formal training in printmaking. Having just learnt the etching technique from Ricardo Canals, a fellow resident of Montmartre, it is astonishing that Pablo Picasso produced this icon in the history of printmaking at the age of only twenty-three. Le Repas Frugal is considered one of Pablo Picasso’s masterpieces as a printmaker and was only Picasso’s second work created in the medium. The medium of etching would fascinate Pablo Picasso for the remainder of his life.

First printed in small numbers by the printer Eugene Delatre in 1905, The Saltimbanques etching plates were later acquired by art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard. Vollard had the fragile copper plates steel-faced and, in 1913, the edition of 250 was printed by Louis Fort. Together with an additional eleven drypoints and two etchings made by Picasso between 1904 and 1906, these early prints are commonly known as the Saltimbanques Suite.


Le Repas Frugal was recently exhibited at the Pablo Picasso Prints and Paintings exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Frugal Meal is a part of the permanent collections of the following museums and institutions:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The National Gallery, Washington, DC

The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

The Musee Picasso, Paris
The Museo Picasso, Barcelona

The Brooklyn Museum, New York