Bacchanale avec Chevreau et Spectateur (Bacchanal with Kid and Spectator) (Bloch 930) (Baer 1259)

Notes

Printed by Hidalgo Arnéra, Vallauris, France and published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris.

The present lot, Bacchanale avec chevreau et spectateur (Couple and Flutist at the Edge of a Lake) was created by Pablo Picasso in 1959 during a prolific period of experimentation with the linocut technique in the South of France. Printed in collaboration with Hidalgo Arnéra in Vallauris and published by Galerie Louise Leiris in Paris, the work was produced using the complex reduction method, where multiple colours are printed from a single block cut in successive stages.¹

This print is the first in a short series of four Bacchanale linocuts made in late November 1959. The composition captures a pastoral scene animated by music and myth, with a flutist serenading a reclining couple near a lake, while a goat and a distant figure look on. Blending classical themes with modernist abstraction, Picasso reimagines the ancient Bacchic revel with economy of line and rhythmic colour. This work displays Picasso’s late mastery in linocut and his ability to transform traditional motifs through bold, graphic innovation.

^1. No author (no date) The Met, Picasso Linoleum Cuts: The Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kramer Collection, online, accessed 8 October 2025.

Literature

George Bloch (1971) Picasso: Volume I: Catalogue of the Printed Graphic Work 1904-1967, Berne: Editions Kornfeld et Klipstein, another impression from the edition illustrated in black and white on page 202, cat. no. 930.

Brigitte Baer (1992) Picasso Peintre-Graveur, Tome VI: 1966–1968, Berne: Edition Kornfeld, cat. no. 1259.