After Pablo Picasso, Spanish, 1881-1973. Spain, France. Cubist painting and printmaking.

Portrait Imaginaire is a color lithograph that is signed on upper left in plate with 27.4.1969. Editioned lower left in pencil: F86/250; the edition was reserved for France. There is a certificate of authenticity attached to the back. Just to the left of the edition is a blind stamp that is hard to decifer and that may or may not state Lithographie executee par M.Salinas d'apres une peinture sur carton de Picasso. 25.5 x 19.5 in. sheet, 34 x 28 in. frame

This incredibly abstracted lithograph depicts a Frenchman with a white face, elaborate garb, and perhaps a blue feather. The artwork belongs to the portfolio Portraits Imaginaire series created in brilliant colors by Picasso over the course of four months by the French Riviera. Picasso impetuously changed his series upon the arrival of its art supplies, instead reusing the cardboard panels that held the shipped items as the bases for his paintings. The portraits were imagined subjects that referenced his earlier depictions of Balzac, Shakespeare, and dandies from 17th century Holland. Picasso then wished to express the gouaches in a new medium, closely supervising the lithographer Marcel Salinas in a year long lithography process. Picasso did not hand sign any of the lithographs, but did sign the plates, which were then destroyed upon completion of the lithographs.