Heliogravure of the face of a woman from the 'Antibes Suite' of drawings, from the original 1945 drawing by Picasso.
In 1945, Picasso went to Antibes. During his two month stay in Antibes he produced 23 paintings and 44 drawings, of which this was one. It is dated 1946, and was presumably begun in Antibes and finished later.
The heliogravure process allows for a very high quality reproduction of an original drawing to be made. It is similar to photography. An image is chemically exposed onto a sheet of glass and then developed as a print. This is then transferred onto a copper printing plate, which is acid etched to leave behind the impression of the image. From this copper plate prints can be made. After each print the plate has to be cleaned, thus ensuring the high quality of the printed image.
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, and though born in Spain in 1881, he spent most of his working life in France. He is one of the most influential artists of the 20thcentury and he worked in a wide variety of styles, some of which he developed himself and others with the close cooperation of his circle of artist friends. He was the co-founder of the Cubist movement, the co-inventor of art collage. He also produced works in his own unique artistic style as shown in the vast array of art he produced.
His early works were painted in a realistic style, but he went on to experiment with many other ideas and techniques. He was influenced by Matisse in his later years, leading him to experiment on more radical styles. The two artists became good friends but also congenial rivals and they were regarded by the art world as the two most important artists of their time and the leaders of modernism.
His works are usually divided into periods. The 'Blue Period (1901 – 1904), the 'Rose Period' (1904-1906), the 'African-influenced Period' (1907–1909), 'Analytic Cubism'(1909–1912), and 'Synthetic Cubism' (1912–1919), also referred to as the 'Crystal' period.
Much of Picasso's work of the late 1910s and early 1920s is in a neo-classical style, and his work in the mid-1920s often has characteristics of Surrealism. His later work often combines elements of his earlier styles.
He was extremely prolific and his art is widely known. He is regarded as one of the most influential and renowned artists worldwide. He was still working up to the time of his death in 1973.
Verve was a Parisian art magazine, published by Teriade and first published in 1937. 38 volumes were published in total and many famous artists were featured in its pages. The images published by the magazine have become collectable and are of exceptional quality.
