Pablo Picasso
(Málaga 1881 – 1973 Mougins)
Design for a Title Page and Poster: Verve 29-30, 1954
Cut-out, collage (affixed with pins), colored chalks, brush in black
60.6 x 39.5 cm
Signed and dated upper left: "Picasso 2.5.54“
PROVENANCE
Christian Zervos (1889-1970), present from the artist
Private collection, by descent, until 2010
Private collection Switzerland
Certificate by Claude Picasso, April 7th, 2012.
Together with the original poster.
From early December 1953 to February 1954, Pablo Picasso worked on a series of drawings and published them in the fall of 1954 in the art and literature magazine “Verve”. At this time, the artist was working in Vallauris (Côte d'Azur), where he was mainly interested in ceramics.
In his magazine, the editor and founder of “Verve”, E. Tériade, gave the masters of classical modernism the opportunity to present their latest graphic works to the public. Because of the large number of drawings in Picasso's series, he intended to dedicate a double edition (nos. 29-30) to him. Michel Leiris wrote a short introductory text, and for the English-speaking world Tériade prepared a separate publication entitled “Picasso et la comedie humaine”, in which Rebecca West added a text.
Picasso's series comprises 16 color lithographs and 174 heliogravures. Each drawing was published in its original size, as was our title page. A fragmentarily depicted young man appears on the left side, which the artist reduced to the most important elements. Picasso uses orange for the background and adds grey for the right half of the body, two colors typically found in ceramics.
In the lithograph they have been replaced by red and blue to achieve a stronger color contrast. The artist gives the words a colored background and only makes an exception for his own name.
Yellow, violet, leaf-green and black forms whirl through space and invite the viewer to dream: Picasso shows here that he has seen the latest collages by Matisse and that he asks a certain humor and lightness from the viewer.
In his series the artist shows moments of absolute honesty. He illuminates the relationship between man and woman, the problem of aging and treats erotic desire with great freedom. Picasso already shows himself on the title page as a virtuoso of scarcity and reduction to the elementary. Even in the mid-fifties, he is one of the most modern artists of his time.
David Mandrella, Paris, 2021