Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$30000.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 13 original etchings unbound as issued in a sleeve inside the bound book. One of 65 deluxe copies (no. 10) on Imperial Japan paper, signed by Picasso and Vollard. (Only the deluxe copies on Japan paper were signed on the colophon by the artist and publisher.) This copy without the second suite on Rives. Housed in a custom clamshell case encased throughout in three leathers by the celebrated binder Alexandr Mosalov. References : Cramer, Pablo Picasso, les livres illustrés, n° 20 ;Bloch: 82-94; Livre no, 19. Un des précieux exemplaires sur Japon sans la suite.In-4 (228 x 250 mm). En feuilles, sous chemise rempliée illustrée. Quelques défauts à la couverture (dos et bords inférieurs du premier plat légèrement passés, accident à la coiffe supérieure, quelques taches), coin inférieur du premier feuillet blanc coupé, bords des planches de la suite très légèrement maculées, sans atteinte aux gravures.13 eaux fortes originales hors texte (dont la table des gravures) et 67 dessins gravés sur bois de Pablo Picasso.
Seller: Wittenborn Art Books, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$44082.68 + shipping
Description: in-4 (325x250 mm), pp. XIV, con 67 composizioni figurative astratte di Picasso incise in legno da Aubert, pp. 92 di testo, (8), 13 acquaforti originali di Picasso f.t. Artistica legatura d'amatore, firmata da René Kieffer in pieno marocchino marrone interamente decorata con giochi di filetti a secco, punteggiata in oro, bordura in marocchino grigio, titolo in oro al dorso, taglio sup. dorato., sguardie in seta grigia, in elegante astuccio. Copertina originale conservata. Precede una prefazione del pittore Albert Besnard. Tiratura a 340 esemplari complessivi: il presente è il n. 230 dei 240 sur "papier de Rives". Ammirato da artisti come Paul Cézanne e Henri Matisse, il racconto di Balzac narra la storia di un anziano artista del XVII secolo di nome Frenhofer che lavora ossessivamente a una tela che tiene nascosta per anni. La storia di questo eroe drammaticamente incompreso ma visionario si adattava bene agli artisti d'avanguardia che intraprendevano una carriera sulla scia di Balzac; infatti, nel 1904 Cézanne esclamò apertamente "Frenhofer, c'est moi" (Joyce Medina, Cézanne and Modernism: The Poetics of Painting, SUNY Press, 1995). L'opera è illustrata da 67 disegni di Picasso, xilografati da George Aubert e da 13 acquaforti originali di Picasso a piena pagina fuori testo, stupende, in cui l'artista cominciò ad utilizzare il tratteggio donando forza all'orizzonte prospettico della scena grazie al chiaroscuro. "En 1927 Vollard, à chargé l'artiste d'illustrer une réédition spéciale d'une nouvelle de Balzac datant de 1837. L'histoire de Balzac se situe au 17e siècle dans un studio de la rue des Grands Augustins à Paris . Dans les années ?30, par un étrange coup du destin, il loua le numéro 7, rue des Grands Augustins que lui et d'autres croyaient être la maison dans laquelle l'histoire commence. C'est à cette adresse en 1937, exactement cent ans après la dernière version de Balzac, que Picasso a peint son célèbre chef-d'oeuvre, Guernica". Sebbene Picasso - ampiamente riconosciuto come uno dei più grandi incisori di tutti i tempi - sia tra i più prolifici illustratori di libri del XX secolo, le acqueforti che realizzò per questa edizione hanno in realtà ben poco a che fare con il testo di Balzac; piuttosto, l'artista sembra aver colto l'occasione per riflettere più in generale su uno dei suoi temi preferiti: il rapporto tra artista e modello e l'atto stesso della creazione. È forse per questo che il prodotto finale - una vera e propria meditazione sull'arte - è esso stesso un'opera d'arte, annoverabile tra i più bei libri d'artista del XX secolo. Esemplare magnifico, a pieni margini. Chapon, Le peintre et le livre, p.281:Le peintre et le livre, p.281: ''Picasso a multipié les manières de créer.il execute une série de variations constituées de droites, de courbes, de figures géometriques. Aux extrémités des points.''. Cramer n.20. Rauch n.53.
Seller: Libreria Antiquaria Pregliasco, Torino, Italy
Price: US$52000.00 + shipping
Description: 4° (335x260 mm). XIV, [3], [16 pages lettered A to P], [3], 92, [14] pages. With thirteen original etchings by Picasso, pulled by Louis Fort; sixty-seven wood engravings cut by George Aubert after Picasso's drawings; and 16 pages reproducing lineblock dot and line drawings. Handsomely bound in a custom binding by René Kieffer, with his signature on the lower turn-ins of the upper cover and his stamp pasted on the verso of the second flyleaf. Linen pastedowns, linen and marble-paper flyleaves. In marbled slipcase. Small stain on plate no. V of the table of etchings and on facing page (a blank), otherwise in pristine condition.Beautiful centennial edition of Balzac's short story, Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu – originally published in the newspaper L'Artiste in August 1831 with the title 'Maître Frenhofer' – commissioned by Picasso's dealer, Ambroise Vollard, and illustrated with thirteen original etchings by the Spanish master, sixty-seven wood engravings cut by George Aubert after his drawings, and sixteen pages reproducing lineblock dot and line drawings. This edition was printed in 305 copies, of which 240 – including the present one, no. 230 – were printed on Rives wove paper. Admired by such artists as Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse, Balzac's story tells the tale of an ageing seventeenth-century artist named Frenhofer who obsessively works on a canvas he keeps hidden for years. When two young painters and admirers of Frenhofer's work finally manage to see the canvas, they are shocked by what they discover to be an indistinguishable mass of tangled brushstrokes and layers of paint. Deciding that the older artist must have gone insane, the two young artists deride Frenhofer who subsequently destroys all his works and commits suicide. The story of this dramatically misunderstood yet visionary hero was well suited for the avant-garde artists pursuing careers in Balzac's wake; indeed, in 1904 Cézanne exclaimed outright 'Frenhofer, c'est moi' (J. Medina, Cézanne and Modernism: The Poetics of Painting, 1995). Arguably the most innovative and ground-breaking artist of the Modern period, Picasso was no exception and identified heavily with Balzac's tragic protagonist, so much so that he later moved his studio to the very seventeenth-century townhouse believed to have been the setting for the opening scene of Frenhofer's tale. It is perhaps hardly a coincidence that the dealer of both Cézanne and Picasso was the great avant-garde champion and mentor Ambroise Vollard, who, in addition to dealing art, was also an avid collector, biographer, and publisher. In 1927, twenty-six years after mounting Picasso's first Paris exhibition in 1901, Vollard asked the Spanish artist to illustrate a centennial edition of Balzac's text. Although Picasso – widely recognized as one of the greatest printmakers of all time – counts among the most prolific book illustrators of the twentieth century, the etchings he produced for this edition in fact bear little relation to Balzac's text; rather, the artist seems to have used the opportunity to reflect more generally on one of his favourite subjects: the artist-model relationship and the act of creation itself. It is perhaps for this reason that the final product – a true meditation on Art – is itself a work of art, ranking among one of the most beautiful artist's books of the twentieth century.Cramer, Picasso. Catalogue raisonné des livres illustrés, no. 20; Bonet, Carnets, no. 690, pl. 175; Philobiblon, One Thousand Years of Bibliophily, no. 283.
Seller: PrPh Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$64758.68 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Gr.4° (32 x 24 cm) - B/w - 12 Original etchings in-out of text and one etching for the "table des eaux-fortes" Engraved by Pablo Picasso - A complete Suite of 12 engravings on vélin de Rives - Drawings by the artist engraved on wood by Georges Aubert and printed in-text. A "preface" of 16 pages of drawings composed of points and lines drawn by Picasso in 1924 also engraved on wood by Aubert. First edition, published in 340 copies (65 Imperial Japon + 240 on Velin de Rives & 35 H.C.) Our copy is 1 of 65 copies on Imperial Japan. Signed in brush by Picasso and monogrammed in pen by Vollard. Text in French language. Original boards. In Very good condition
Seller: °ART...on paper - 20th Century Art Books, Lugano, Switzerland