Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
Grande Tête de Femme au Chapeau, 1962
Linocut in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed “Picasso” in pencil, lower right
Numbered edition of 50 in pencil, lower left
Sheet: approximately 29½ × 24⅜ in. (75 × 62 cm)
Image: approximately 25⅛ × 20¾ in. (63.8 × 52.7 cm)
Edition of 50, plus artist’s proofs
Printed by Hidalgo Arnéra, Vallauris
Published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 1963
Literature: Bloch 1078; Baer 1293; Picasso Project L-112
Provenance: Marlborough Gallery; Private Collection, acquired from the above; thence by descent/current private collection. Documentation available upon request.
About the Work
Created in 1962, Grande Tête de Femme au Chapeau belongs to one of the most celebrated periods of Pablo Picasso’s printmaking, when the artist was working closely with master printer Hidalgo Arnéra in Vallauris and pushing the linocut medium in remarkably inventive directions.
The subject is Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s wife and great muse of his later years. Rather than presenting Jacqueline conventionally, Picasso reduces and reconstructs her features through sweeping curves, overlapping profiles and powerful areas of black and warm earth tones. The result is unmistakably Picasso: simultaneously portrait, abstraction and an exploration of how a face can be seen from multiple viewpoints at once.
Picasso’s work with Arnéra transformed his approach to color linocut. Instead of relying exclusively upon separate blocks for individual colors, Picasso explored the demanding reduction technique, progressively cutting away a single block as successive colors were printed. The process required extraordinary confidence, as each stage permanently altered the printing matrix and left little opportunity for correction.
Grande Tête de Femme au Chapeau is particularly compelling for its scale and graphic strength. Measuring nearly 30 inches in height, the sheet has considerable presence on the wall, while the restricted palette gives the image an almost sculptural quality. The sweeping hat, emphatic profile and enormous almond-shaped eye transform Jacqueline into one of the monumental female heads that characterize Picasso’s work of the early 1960s.
Published by the prestigious Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, in an edition of only 50 signed and numbered impressions, this example is from the numbered edition of 50 and carries distinguished Marlborough Gallery provenance.
A striking and highly recognizable work from an important chapter of Picasso’s graphic oeuvre, Grande Tête de Femme au Chapeau combines the artist’s enduring fascination with portraiture, his relentless experimentation with technique, and the unmistakable imagery of his late period.
Price and additional information available upon request.
