What is a Proof? Artists Proofs and Printer's Proofs

Art collectors often ask our gallery about this topic, so today we are going to shed some light on the differences between different proofs and the printed edition.

What is a Limited Edition?

 

Marc Chagall "L'Arbre Fleuri I" - Lithograph - Edition of 100

When an artist prints a limited edition original print, such as a: lithograph, etching, aquatint, carborundum, screenprint, linocut, or woodcut, a set number of identical prints are made. This set number is the "Edition Size," and these will generally be numbered sequentially and hand-signed by the artist. An edition size can vary from extremely small editions of 5 to large editions of 1,000 or more. Open editions have an unknown or unlimited quantity of prints.



Joan Miro "La Magie Quotidienne" - Etching - Edition of XV on Japon

Sometimes there are different editions printed on different kinds of paper. As an example there may be a regular edition on Arches paper with a limit of 100. These 100 prints are signed and numbered sequentially from 1/100 to 100/100.  In addition to this edition on Arches paper, a smaller edition of 15 are printed on Japon paper and numbered sequentially in roman numerals from I/XV to XV/XV and signed by the artist. This brings our total edition, to 115 prints + any additional proofs that may exist.

So What is a Proof?

A proof is usually an identical print to the regular edition, that is printed at the same time - but is not part of the numbered sequence. This is known as a "Proof Aside from the Edition," and these may or may not be hand-signed by the artist. In general with any edition printed there can be anywhere from 5-50 extra proofs aside from the edition.

Pablo Picasso "Farol (B. 945)" - Linocut - Epreuve d'artiste

Often these extra proofs are retained for the artist, otherwise known as an "Artist Proof". An artist proof can be annotated "A.P." for Artist Proof, or "E.A." in French "Epreuve d'artiste". Sometimes artists can additionally dedicate and gift a proof to a friend, collaborator, dealer, printer, or even family member.



Zao Wou-ki "En Attendant un Jour de Fete (250b)" - Etching - BAT with notes

A "Printer's Proof" designated as "P.P." is much the same, an extra proof made aside of the numbered edition retained by the printer or atelier. The "P.P." can also sometimes stand for "Publisher's Proof". The printer's proof is usually for approval by the master printer to ensure the quality of the printing, and can sometimes include notes and annotations about the printing process. The "BAT" or "Bon à Tirer" is a kind of printer's proof, normally use as a control example against which the other impressions are compared. Bon à Tirer is French for "Good to Print" and is also kept by the Printer or Atelier studio.



Sam Francis "Untitled I (TP)" - Etching - Color Trial Proof

 

Another kind of proof is the "Trial Proof" annotated "T.P." The trial proof is essentially a test proof, often to test colors or the final look of the composition. It is sometimes also referred to as a "working proof" by which the final composition of an edition has not yet been realized. Trial proofs are often thought of as unique prints as they are a one-of-a-kind version of the composition. Art historians, curators, and collectors view working proofs as especially desirable because of their rarity, and the insight they may give into the progress of the work.


Marc Chagall "Le Peintre devant le Village II" - Lithograph - HC aside from edition

The last form of a "Proof" is the "H.C." which stands for the French term "Hors Commerce" or "Not for Sale". These are exactly as they sound, identical proofs to the regular edition that are not intended to be sold. Prints designated H.C. are often given to the project collaborators as a form of appreciation or partial payment.

Total Tirage

Marc Chagall Catalogue Raisonne Description

"Tirage", the French term meaning "output," is the total number of prints printed for an edition, including any proofs, APs, PPs, HC, and TPs. It is important to note that not every limited edition includes all of these, and the complete number of prints within a tirage are usually described in the artist's Catalogue Raisonné. Some artists and editions are catalogued very well and include full descriptions of the tirage, while others may have basic information only about the numbered edition.

For more information about printmaking and collecting original prints please 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

Sam Francis – Space and Color

Sam Francis - Trietto II - Aquatint Print

“Painting is about the beauty of space and the power of containment.” – Sam Francis


Sam Francis with Wallse Ting in studio

American Abstract Artist Sam Francis was late to start his successful and brilliant career as a painter and printmaker. While serving as a pilot in the United States Air Force during WWII, Sam Francis suffered an injury that hospitalized him for several years. While recovering, Sam Francis began to paint over the side of his hospital bed to escape the mundane routine of the hospital as well as the pains of his aching body. Developing a love for art and finding an artistic voice was healing for Sam Francis, and the art created in this time had an astonishing remedial effect on Sam Francis’ mental and emotional state.

Sam Francis - Untitled SF345
Lithograph

Sam Francis’ experience as a pilot had a unique bearing on his paintings and prints, which often utilized aerial perspectives to communicate the silence of the skies. Sam Francis’ aerial approach to the canvas became paramount to his methodology as a painter, as well as a signature style for Sam Francis.

During the late 1940s, Sam Francis began producing and exhibiting his earliest abstract artworks. Francis was initially influenced by the work of the Abstract Expressionists, like Mark Rothko and Arshile Gorky, and Sam Francis incorporated many of their techniques and ideas in his art. Despite this influence, Sam Francis’ art was also in close dialogue with modern and contemporary French art. His references ranged from the Water Lilies of Claude Monet, which inspired many of Sam Francis ideas about atmosphere and space, to Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, whose conceptions of pure color were particularly resonant with Francis.

Sam Francis - Pasadena Box (Plate 8)
Lithograph Print

While traveling to Japan during the 1950’s, Sam Francis became interested in Japanese calligraphy and art, particularly the Japanese use of negative space. Sam Francis was acutely aware of the dialogue between color and space on the canvas. In many of Sam Francis’ prints and paintings from the 1960’s the brushwork is relegated to the outer edges, leaving vast empty spaces in the center of each art piece. The negative space, or silence within Sam Francis’ art is as meaningful as Francis’ fluid brushwork of radiant color.

“Color is a kind of holy substance for me,” Francis said. “It’s the element in painting which I am most fascinated with. It is an element of painting which overcomes me. . . . Color in a way is a receptacle for a feeling and a way for you to hold it until understanding arrives or meaning is extracted.” Sam Francis’ artwork further investigated perceptions of light and color by contrasting glowing jewel tones with large areas of white. White in Sam Francis’ art does not function simply as a ground against which he applies color. Rather, the white areas are dynamically engaged in active communication with the colors. For Francis each color had a symbolic value: white corresponded to the infinite, blue to the cosmos and water, and yellow to the sun.

Sam Francis - Untitled - Monotype

Considered one of the premier colorists of the twentieth century, Sam Francis is best known for dramatic, lushly painted works comprised of vivid pools of color, thinly applied. Sam Francis has also been compared to Color Field artists on the basis of large, fluid sections of paint that seem to extend beyond the confines of the pictorial surface. Sam Francis’ art is a dynamic and sophisticated juxtaposition between color and space, a luminous conversation played out in strokes of lush color.

Visit our website for more available prints by Sam Francis.

David Hockney Vintage Posters - A Colorful Timeline

David Hockney, Mount Fuji and Flowers,
Offset Lithographic Poster

Artist David Hockney has continued to be an innovative artistic force since the beginning of his career in the 1960s. Although Hockney has always denied being a part of the Pop Art Movement, Hockney is often included under this heading because of the vibrancy of his palette, though he never adopted the iconographic subject matter of the Pop Artists. David Hockney's affiliation with the Pop Artists is mostly by association, and seems more to do with his friendships with peers like Andy Warhol, whom he met in New York in 1961, than Hockney's artwork.


David Hockney, Paper Pool #7, Off-Set Lithographic Poster

Taking a look at the time-line of David Hockney's exhibition, museum, and art posters, we get a good sense of the development Hockney's unique aesthetic and painting style over the years. After completing his training at the Royal College of Arts in London, Hockney's art had adopted a deliberately rough and rudimentary style which Hockney owed a great deal to artists Jean Dubuffet and Francis Bacon. Hockney was in a phase of rapid self-discovery on both artistic and personal levels. David Hockney was coming to terms with his own sexuality while at the same time searching for an artistic style.

  

David Hockney, A Bigger Splash,
Off-Set Lithographic Poster

After his first trip to Los Angeles in 1964, Hockney returned to England set to work on a series of prints and paintings that reflected his American experiences. David Hockney began to incorporate acrylic paint in his art, and Hockney created his first series of stylized Southern Californian landscapes as well as his first swimming pool paintings. One of Hockney's most noted swimming pools is "A Bigger Splash," 1967, which is now a part of the permanent collection of the Tate Gallery, London and the title of a documentary about Hockney that was released in 1974. David Hockney had always fantasized about living in Los Angeles: “Within a week of arriving there in this strange big city, not knowing a soul, I'd passed the driving test, bought a car, driven to Las Vegas and won some money, got myself a studio, started painting, all within a week. And I thought, it's just how I imagined it would be.” In 1978 David Hockney experimented with a process of moulding colored paper pulp, producing a series of twenty-nine Paper Pools. Hockney's "Paper Pools" were greatly influenced by Van Gogh.

David Hockney, Photocollages, Off-set Lithographic Poster



David Hockney, XVI RIP Arles,
Offset Lithographic Poster



During the 1970's David Hockney made his first photomontage or photo collage artworks, which Hockney referred to as "Joiners". David Hockney was greatly inspired by the art of Pablo Picasso particularly Picasso's Cubist Period, and Hockney saw photography and his Polaroid composites as a new investigation of Cubism and pictorial space. David Hockney explored the use of the camera, making composite images of Polaroid photographs arranged in a rectangular grid. Later Hockney used regular 35-millimetre prints to create photo-collages, compiling a 'complete' picture from a series of individually photographed details. In 1985 Hockney lectured on his photographic experimentation at the prestigious Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles.



David Hockney, Parade,
Off-set Lithographic Poster



During the mid 1970's Hockney embraced the challenge of a new medium, creating a number of designs for various Theatrical productions in London and New York. As a young child, David Hockney had developed an obsession with opera when he first saw the Carl Rosa opera company's production of La Bohème, and Hockney was ecstatic to bring his two passions together. From 1975 - 1993 Hockney produced set and costume designs for:

'The Magic Flute' 1978, 

'Parade' 1981, 

'Oedipus Rex' 1981,

'Tristan und Isolde' 1986,

'Die Frau Ohne Schatten' 1991,

and 'Turandot' 1993.



David Hockney, A Bigger Grand Canyon,
Offset Lithographic Poster



Nichols Canyon
Lithographic Poster



Continuing to be influenced by American culture and the natural landscapes found in California and the Western United States, David Hockney's vivid palette became more striking and beautiful and in 1980 David Hockney painted "Nichols Canyon" after a well known canyon in the Hollywood Hills. In 1982 David Hockney traveled with friends through the American West and Hockney was inspired to create a large photocollage of the Grand Canyon. "A Bigger Grand Canyon" is one of David Hockney's most celebrated artworks, rich with brilliant colors that capture the cascading landscape of the Arizona desert.



David Hockney, Hotel Well III,
Offset Lithographic Poster



During the 1980's David Hockney's palette became imbued with an array of saturated and vibrant colors making Hockney's artwork both dramatic and enticing. During a trip down to Mexico City, David Hockney was moved by the courtyard landscape of his Hotel in Acatlan, Mexico, and enthusiastically created a number of original prints known as the "Moving Focus" series. The "Moving Focus" print series from the mid 1980's is the culmination of Hockney’s experiments with Cubism. The constant shifting focus in Hockney's "Hotel Well III," brings together multiple and simultaneous perspectives, clearly feeding off of Hockney's work with photography and his "Joiner" pieces. Fascinated by the Hotel Well and courtyard, David Hockney revisited the subject in multiple lithographs, incorporating the passage of time and light in the concept of perspective as seen in artworks like "Hotel Acatlan, Second Day" and "Hotel Acatlan, Two Weeks Later."



David Hockney, Hotel Acatlan Second Day, Offset Lithographic Poster



After working with California master printer Ken Tyler in the 1980s making etchings and lithographs, David Hockney explored ways of creating art with color photocopiers in 1986. “The works I did with the copying machine ...were not reproductions,” Hockney said later, “they were very complex prints.” Subject to the same curiosity about new technical methods, David Hockney began to experiment with the fax machine, and in 1989 sent work for the Sao Paulo Biennale to Brazil via fax. David Hockney began experiments using computers, composing images and colors on the screen and having them printed directly from the computer disk without preliminary proofing. David Hockney has had major retrospectives of his art in New York, Los Angeles and London. Technical experimentation has continued to inform and develop the art of David Hockney and his most recent artworks have been created on Hockney's iPad. David Hockney primarily works in his art studio in the Hollywood Hills near Los Angeles, California, where Hockney has lived permanently since 1978.

For more information on David Hockney Art Posters please visit our website:

David Hockney

RUFINO TAMAYO & MIXOGRAFIA PRINTS

Perro de Luna, 1973 LITHOGRAPH

Rufino Tamayo’s legacy to the history of art is truly found in Tamayo’s oeuvre of graphic prints, in which Tamayo cultivated every technique. A truly innovative print-maker, Rufino Tamayo’s graphic work was produced between 1925 and 1991 and includes the mediums of woodcuts, lithographs, etchings, aquatints, and mixografia prints.



Niña, 1981 MIXOGRAPH

In the early 1970's, printer Luis Remba approached Rufino Tamayo to produce a series of lithographs. Although Tamayo was interested, he made it clear that he was looking for new horizons within the medium - particularly seeking ways to get more volume and texture into his original prints. Together Luis Remba & Rufino Tamayo expanded the technical and aesthetic possibilities of the graphic arts by developing a new genre of multiples, which they named Mixografia.



Dos Hermanos, 1987 MIXOGRAPH

The Mixografia technique is a unique fine art printing process that allows for the production of prints with three-dimensional texture. The quality of a Mixografia print is similar to that of a fresco or bas-relief, in which the surface of the paper has a kind of sculptural depth. The technique not only registered the texture and volume of Rufino Tamayo's design, but it also granted Tamayo the freedom to use any combination of solid materials in its creation. Rufino Tamayo was delighted with the Mixografia process, and Tamayo created some 80 Original Mixographs over his lifetime.

Due to the inability of commercial paper to withstand the stress of the Mixografia three-dimensional printing technique, a more resilient handmade paper was also invented. The paper of a Mixografia print has a heavy and thick consistency that further enhances the sculptural three-dimensionality of a Mixografia print.



Relief Sculpture from Pelenque Ruins

Greatly influenced by his Mexican and Zapotec heritage, much of Rufino Tamayo’s artwork, particularly Tamayo’s Mixografia prints, illustrate the same weight and feel of Pre-Columbian stone reliefs and sculptures. Rufino Tamayo became interested in Pre-Columbian art as early as 1926, when Tamayo became the head of the department of ethnographic drawing at the National Museum of Archaeology in Mexico City.

Nocturno, 1975 ETCHING

Most of the compositions in Rufino Tamayo’s original graphics are extremely simple yet highly inventive in their technicality. Tamayo was known for taking an elementary drawing and filling it with structural elements, textures and colors obtaining striking etchings, lithographs and mixographs created with eloquent and economical expression.

Hombre, 1979 LITHOGRAPH

Rufino Tamayo was one of the first artists in Latin America to interpret his roots without historicism, anecdote, or proclamation. In doing so, Rufino Tamayo formed one of the most brilliant chapters of the already rich and prestigious field of original graphic art in Mexico.


To view the gallery’s collection of available Rufino Tamayo
Prints please visit our website:

www.denisbloch.com

Marc Chagall - The Story of Exodus



Exodus - "God parted the clouds... "(M467)



Marc Chagall and Lithography

Marc Chagall was introduced to original lithography by Fernand Mourlot, owner of the renowned Mourlot Atelier lithographic studio located in Paris, France. Marc Chagall worked closely with Master Printer Charles Sorlier and over the next 35 years, Chagall created over 1,000 original lithographs at the Atelier Mourlot. The partnership between Marc Chagall and Charles Sorlier was extremely fruitful. . Charles Sorlier advised Chagall on all his future color lithograph projects and supervised their printing at the Mourlot Studio:
  



Marc Chagall

"Marc Chagall fabricated a mystical world of lovers, musicians and artists in his work. Chagall chose lithography as a print medium that could offer him almost unlimited painterly freedom to explore this world. Since lithography is a technique where the artist can work directly on the printing plate or lithostone, the resultant prints convey the spontaneity of Chagall’s brushstrokes and drawn lines. Lithography also allowed Chagall to work in lush color, which he viewed as his métier, and for which Chagall has become renowned. Chagall's lithographs are now among the most collected art works of the 20th century."
                                                                  – Charles Sorlier

While working with Charles Sorlier and Mourlot, Chagall completed many lithographic series including The Bible, The Story of Exodus, The Circus, Daphnis and Chloe and The Odyssey. Chagall used up to 25 different lithographic plates per print to achieve the perfect expression of color. Over the course of his lifetime, Marc Chagall continued to be fascinated with color lithography as a printmaking medium and retained the Mourlot Atelier and especially Charles Sorlier as his creative collaborators.

Marc Chagall and The Bible

   

Exodus "Moses and
the Burning Bush" (M447)

Raised in a remote village in present day Belarus, Marc Chagall’s Jewish heritage proved to be one of the major influences in Marc Chagall’s Art. Chagall’s art is characterized by imagery drawn from the quaint Jewish village including animals from Chagall’s childhood, his strong family heritage, and the Jewish faith and practice. Chagall endeavored to express the spiritual meaning and moral messages found in Biblical teachings through his paintings, lithography, etchings, and original prints.



Exodus - "Bezaleel and
his Golden Cherubim" (M464)

“Ever since my earliest youth I have been fascinated by the Bible. The Bible is the echo of nature, and this I have endeavored to transmit. . . . In art everything is possible, so long as it is based on love.” – Marc Chagall

In 1966, Marc Chagall created a series of original lithographs depicting the biblical Story of the Exodus. The Story of Exodus portfolio contained 24 large color lithographs. 23 of The Story of Exodus Lithographs were printed on paper measuring 50 x 37 cm and the last original print was created as a double-size plate with a centerfold. The Story of Exodus was created in a limited edition consisting of 285 portfolios signed on the justification page by Marc Chagall: 250 on Velin d'Arches numbered from 1 to 250; 20 on Japon Nacre paper; and 15 hors commerce (not for sale) lettered A to O reserved for project collaborators.

 

Exodus - "Moses Calls Down the
Waters Upon the Eqyptians" (M453)

 The name Exodus means "going out" or “departure". It refers not only to one of the most important events of the book Exodus (the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt), but also to other highly significant events as well, such as the call of Moses and God’s covenant with the nation Israel at Sinai - an experience culminating in God’s giving of the moral law (Ten Commandments) through Moses to the people. Portraying one of the most important stories of The Old Testament, and one of the central figures in the Jewish faith, Chagall’s Story of Exodus is a brilliant series with vivid color illuminating the spiritual and emotional nature of the story.



Exodus - "Moses Shows the
Elders the Tablets of the Law" (M457)

Often Marc Chagall would travel to foreign countries for inspiration for his artwork. Prior to creating The Story of Exodus, Chagall made a personal and spiritual journey to Palestine and present day Israel. Chagall wanted to experience the land and culture of the birthplace of Judaism. Chagall’s time spent in the Middle East influenced all of his biblically themed works, including the Exodus Series as well as the Bible Series.
  

Exodus - "Then
Came Alamek" (M456)



“I saw the hills of Sodom and the Negev, out of whose defiles appear the shadows of our prophets in their yellowish garments, the color of dry bread. I heard their ancient words. . . . Have they not truly and justly shown in their words how to behave on this earth and by what ideal to live?” – Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall’s illustrations of The Story of Exodus are magnificent examples of Chagall’s masterful use of vibrant color to create lush depth, texture and emotion. The Exodus lithographs were highly acclaimed at their time of release and remain one of Chagall’s most popular series due to their expert use of color and fervent imagery.

 

Exodus - "Moses Sees the
Suffering of his People" (M446)

“Changes in societal structure and in art would possess more credibility if they had their origins in the soul and spirit. If people read the words of the prophets with closer attention, they would find the keys to life.”
  - Marc Chagall





To view our collection of available Marc Chagall Prints
please visit our website:

WWW.DENISBLOCH.COM

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

Georges Braque Biography

“Once an object has been incorporated in a picture it accepts a new destiny.” – Georges Braque


Oiseau Blanc, 1961 , Ceramic Plaque

Artist Georges Braque was born on May 13, 1882, in Argenteuil sur Seine, France. The son of a house decorator, Georges Braque received his first art lessons in painting from his father. In 1890 the Braque family moved to Le Havre, where Georges Braque would attend evening art classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from about 1897 to 1899. At the age of 19, Georges Braque left for Paris to get a craftsman certificate.

From 1902 to 1904, Georges Braque studied art at the Academie Humbert in Paris, where Braque met artists Marie Laurencin and Francis Picabia. By 1906, Georges Braque had evolved his art from the Impressionist style into the bolder Fauvist style. Georges Braque showed Fauvist works of art the following year in the Salon des Independants in Paris. Georges Braque had his first solo art show at Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler’s gallery in 1908.

In 1909, Georges Braque began to work very closely with artist and collegue Pablo Picasso, as the two artists’ styles were becoming very similar. Both Braque and Picasso’s art showed an increased interest in geometry and simultaneous perspective, and by 1911 Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso had developed the artistic style of Cubism. One of Picasso's many pet names for Georges Braque was 'Vilbour' or 'Wilbourg', a reference to Wilbur Wright. Pablo Picasso saw in their 1908-1914 creative art partnership something that was akin to the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, the pioneers of sustained powered flight. In 1912, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso started to incorporate collage elements into their art and to experiment with the papier colle (pasted paper) technique, in which Barque utilized a roll of wallpaper found in a local shop. Braque and Picasso’s productive collaboration continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Georges Braque served with honor in the French army during World War I and was seriously wounded in the head, leaving Braque temporarily blinded and unable to create art. Upon recovering in 1917, Georges Braque began a close friendship with cubist artist Juan Gris.



Theiere et Fruits, c. 1950 , Collotype



After the war Georges Braque became freer and less schematic in his art, moving away from the harsher abstraction of Cubism. Braque painted many still life subjects during this time, maintaining an emphasis on structure. In 1922 Georges Braque had an art exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in Paris that brought Braque great fame and recognition. During the mid-1920s, Georges Braque designed the art decor for two Sergei Diaghilev ballets. By the end of the decade, Georges Braque had returned to a more realistic interpretation of nature, although certain aspects of Cubism always remained present in Braque’s art.

 In 1931, Georges Braque created his first engraved plasters and began to portray mythological subjects. Georges Braque had his first important art retrospective in 1933 at the Kunsthalle Basel. In 1937 Braque won First Prize at the Carnegie International, in Pittsburgh.



Georges Braque at his studio with Mourlot and Master Printers, 1962



During World War II, Georges Braque remained in Paris. During this period Braque primarily painted still-lifes and interiors, and Braque’s art became more and more somber as the war continued. From the late 1940s Georges Braque created numerous lithographs, engravings, and sculptures where, Braque utilized recurring themes of birds, ateliers, landscapes, and seascapes. Georges Braque, along with Henri Matisse, is credited for introducing Pablo Picasso to Fernand Mourlot, and most of the lithographs, illustrated books, and original prints Braque created in the 1940s and '50s were produced at the Mourlot Lithography Studios. In 1948 Georges Braque was awarded the main prize for painting at the Venice Biennale, and in 1951 Braque was made a Commander of the Legion of Honour. A few years later, Braque employed his skills as a craftsman, when Braque designed stained-glass windows for the church of Varengeville and painted the ceiling for the Etruscan Gallery at The Louvre. In 1961 George Braque had the distinction of being the first living artist to have his art exhibited at The Louvre.



Louvre I , c. 1955, Lithograph



Louvre IV, c. 1955, Lithograph


During the last few years of Braque’s life, ill health prevented Braque from undertaking further large-scale commissions, but Baroque continued to paint, create lithographs, and design jewelry. Georges Braque died on August 31, 1963, in Paris with his wife, Marcelle, at his side.