PABLO PICASSO
Salomé.
Drypoint, 1905. 405x350 mm; 16x13¾ inches, full margins. Edition of 250. Van Gelder watermark. Printed by Louis Fort, Paris. Published by Vollard, Paris. From La Suite des Saltimbanques. A superb impression with strong contrasts, burr on John the Baptist's head and the contours of the figures and crisp, inky plate edges. Coinciding with his Rose Period (or Circus Period), Picasso's (1881-1973) first series of etchings in 1905, generally known as La Suite des Saltimbanques, were created while he was establishing his career as an expatriate artist in Paris, and are mostly candid representations of the lives and private moments of characters of the Paris demi-monde and other bohemians. Picasso frequently attended the Cirque Médrano in Montmartre, Paris, during this time and drew inspiration directly from both the performers and visitors as well as from the spectacles themselves, as is seen in this interpretation of the famous Biblical subject. Bloch 14; Geiser 17.