Piero Crommelynck avec sa Femme et sa Fille Dans l'Atelier II (Piero Crommelynck with His Wife and Daughter in Studio II) (Bloch 1856) (Baer 1846)

Provenance

Les Art International, Johannesburg, 6 May 1993.

The Hannes Harrs Collection and thence by descent.

Notes

Printed by Piero Crommelynck.

In the present lot, Pablo Picasso captures an intimate scene of his master printer, Piero Crommelynck, alongside his wife and daughter in the setting of their printmaking studio. Rendered in etching and aquatint, the work belongs to the artist’s late graphic period, during which he collaborated extensively with the Crommelynck brothers in Mougins who opened the workshop in the city so they could work directly with Picasso, who was living in the south of France at the time. These years saw the prolific creation of prints that revisited themes of artistic creation, domestic life, and personal relationships.

In this composition, the studio becomes both subject and backdrop, a site of creative collaboration and familial closeness. The carefully observed grouping, enriched by the textural possibilities of aquatint, reflects Picasso’s enduring interest in the dynamics of the atelier and the people within it. Printed in an edition of 50, the work demonstrates the merging of technical mastery and psychological presence, characteristic of Picasso’s later printmaking.

Literature

Brigitte Baer (1992) Picasso Peintre-Graveur, Tome VI: 1966–1968, Berne: Edition Kornfeld, cat. no. 1846.

George Bloch (1979) Picasso: Volume IV: Catalogue of the Printed Graphic Work 1970-1972 - Supplements I and II, Berne: Editions Kornfeld et Klipstein, illustrated in black and white on page 34, cat. no. 1856.