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拍品专文
"I could make thousands of them. It is wonderful to work like that on a painter who is already there. Basically, the worst thing for a painter is the white canvas” (quoted in H. Parmelin, Picasso, Notre Dame de Vie, Paris, 1966, p. 160).
In 1964, Guy Spitzer published an edition of 300 offset lithographs after Picasso’s painting Le Peintre. All were signed by the artist, who received 30 impressions as a royalty. From October 10 to October 24, Picasso painted 29 of the offset lithographs in gouache and India ink, creating original works out of the limited-edition reproductions. These all take the reproduced image of Le Peintre as their starting point, but each painting is a variation on the theme and is painted over the printed image.
Though stemming from the same image of a painter at his easel, each of the 29 versions varies drastically in depiction and reference, featuring a range of different hairstyles and physical appearances. All point inherently to the practice of self-portraiture; the painter depicted in each individual work is nearly unrecognizable from the other. In the present example, the composition is calm and balanced. The painter is rather coiffed in appearance. Examples from a few days prior, however, feature mousquetaire-like men in a variety of different hats and beard lengths.
What remains consistent across the various iterations, however, is the presence of the mirada fuerte, the dark eyes that project a powerful, mesmerizing gaze which people would notice right away when in Picasso's presence, a feature the artist liked to show off. Paired with a palette and brush—the defining symbol of painterly creation—these variations of Le Peintre affirm Picasso’s unimpeded creative powers as he defiantly fought the passage of time with his unceasing creativity and prodigious artistic powers. As John Richardson wrote, ‘Picasso, who never quite outgrew his birth-right of black beliefs and superstitions, put his faith in his miracle-working paintbrushes and the death-defying images of carnality that they engendered" (Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters: Beaton, Capote, Dalí, Picasso, Freud, Warhol, and More, London, 2001, p. 238).
In 1964, Guy Spitzer published an edition of 300 offset lithographs after Picasso’s painting Le Peintre. All were signed by the artist, who received 30 impressions as a royalty. From October 10 to October 24, Picasso painted 29 of the offset lithographs in gouache and India ink, creating original works out of the limited-edition reproductions. These all take the reproduced image of Le Peintre as their starting point, but each painting is a variation on the theme and is painted over the printed image.
Though stemming from the same image of a painter at his easel, each of the 29 versions varies drastically in depiction and reference, featuring a range of different hairstyles and physical appearances. All point inherently to the practice of self-portraiture; the painter depicted in each individual work is nearly unrecognizable from the other. In the present example, the composition is calm and balanced. The painter is rather coiffed in appearance. Examples from a few days prior, however, feature mousquetaire-like men in a variety of different hats and beard lengths.
What remains consistent across the various iterations, however, is the presence of the mirada fuerte, the dark eyes that project a powerful, mesmerizing gaze which people would notice right away when in Picasso's presence, a feature the artist liked to show off. Paired with a palette and brush—the defining symbol of painterly creation—these variations of Le Peintre affirm Picasso’s unimpeded creative powers as he defiantly fought the passage of time with his unceasing creativity and prodigious artistic powers. As John Richardson wrote, ‘Picasso, who never quite outgrew his birth-right of black beliefs and superstitions, put his faith in his miracle-working paintbrushes and the death-defying images of carnality that they engendered" (Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters: Beaton, Capote, Dalí, Picasso, Freud, Warhol, and More, London, 2001, p. 238).