The Vulture (Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon, B.341), 1942
Details
Year: 1942
Edition: 262
Image size: 10.6 x 8"
Framed size: 24.125 x 20.5"
About the Work
"The Vulture (B.341)" is an aquatint with drypoint on chine created by Pablo Picasso in 1942 for his series 'Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon'. The artwork is from the edition of 262, with remarque. The image size is 10.6 x 8" and the artwork is framed in a contemporary silver and gray frame. The artwork ships framed and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
The exceptional etchings from Picasso’s 'Histoire Naturelle – Textes de Buffon' are a masterful combination of sugar-lift aquatint and drypoint, showcasing a full range of gray tonalities. The etchings of animals, birds and insects are considered some of the most beautiful and most unusual examples of Picasso’s graphic work.
Roger Lacourière, Picasso’s master printer, pulled the prints for each etching between 1939-1942. It was Lacourière who taught Picasso the sugar-lift aquatint technique which allowed him to mimic the effect of brushstrokes in these etched images. Picasso first explored the technique in his plates for the 'Vollard Suite', but it was in the creation of the 'Buffon' images that he fully realized its stunning, painterly potential.
For the edition, 226 portfolios were produced with the first thirty-six counting as deluxe compilations. These rare deluxe sets were on diverse papers (chine, japon or vergé ancien) and each included a complete additional suite showing Picasso’s title remarques along the bottom. As such, the remarqued versions of the prints are quite rare with just thirty-six of each produced for the edition (with the exception of 'The Wolf' which is never remarqued – the image always fills the entire etching plate).
These prints are based on the writings of French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who extensively documented the natural world in his monumental work 'Histoire Naturelle'. Picasso’s association with the project to illustrate parts of the 'Buffon' came during a tumultuous time in European history – the prelude to, and early years of, World War II. As the continent was ravaged, Picasso lived through the disaster in Paris, which the Germans occupied in 1940. These prints could be seen as a political statement – Picasso channeling his artistic expression into a form of resistance art – a celebration of the resilience of life, and the beauty and fascination of the natural world. Picasso’s styling of each animal, most often humorous, reveals his own reflection on the human condition and the complexity of existence.
About the Artist
The Vulture (Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon, B.341), 1942
MORE FROM THIS ARTIST
Three Women Awakening (B.926), 1959 (combo of two prints)
La Celestine Presents Two Boarders to Clients (347 Series, B.1581), 1968
Still Life with Watermelon (B.1098), 1963
La Chute d'Icare (B.2016, La Chute d'Icare), 1972
Woman and Cat in the Studio (B.1162), 1964
Seated Nude (Vollard Suite, B.141), 1931
Two Nudes (Vollard Suite, B.209), 1934
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