Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Lot 54

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Le Repas Frugal, from: La Suite des Saltimbanques

Closed16 September 2015

Price Realised

GBP 80,500

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Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Le Repas Frugal, from: La Suite des Saltimbanques
etching with drypoint, 1904, on Van Gelder wove paper, a very good, strong and tonal impression, printing with much of the subtle background texture, second, final state (the first state is known in one impression only), from the edition of 250 on this paper (there were also 27 or 29 impressions on Japan paper), published by A. Vollard, Paris, 1913, with wide margins, generally in good condition


P. 462 x 375 mm., S. 647 x 503 mm.

With Redfern Gallery, London.
Acquired from the above by Stephen N. Steen Esq. (1907-1988), 9 March 1954; then by descent.

Specialist note

Poised between Picasso's two most significant early periods, Le Repas Frugal represents a pivotal point in the artist's oeuvre. As part of his first series of prints, entitled La Suite des Saltimbanques, it contains elements of both the Blue Period, marked by its melancholic introspection, and the Rose Period, characterised by the artist's fascination with strolling acrobat players.

First printed in small numbers by the Eugène Delâtre in 1905, the plates were later bought by Ambroise Vollard. He had the plates steel-faced and in 1913 the edition was printed by Louis Fort.

Having just learnt the technique from Ricardo Canals, a fellow resident of Montmarte, it is astonishing that Picasso produced this icon in the history of printmaking at the age of only twenty-three. One of his masterpieces as a printmaker, it was only his second work in the medium, which fascinated him for the remainder of his life.