Incollect Magazine - Issue 4

2023 Incollect Magazine 111 Left: Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Jacqueline au Bandeau de Face, 1962. Linocut on watermarked Arches paper, 75.3 x 62 cm. Right: Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Flûtiste et Jeune Fille au Tambourin, 1934. Etching, hand-coloured in red ink, 46 x 35.2 cm. Images courtesy of Shapero Modern. places. He is always actively acquiring Picasso artworks and says the best value is in the print market. “The market for estate print pieces has soared in the past few years,” Rogal says. Estate prints are those, he explains, which were produced after Picasso’s death and approved by the artist’s granddaughter, Marina, who had the rights to the originals. They are therefore authenticated by the estate. Tabitha Philpott-Kent, director for Shapero Modern in London agrees with Rogal that the Picasso print market is extremely strong. She says the market for Picasso prints has cemented the artist as “the world’s leading printmaker in his lifetime.” The linocut prints in particular have lately been hugely popular,” she says. “The great thing about his market is that there is something available across all price ranges, from the low thousands up into many millions. Picasso is considered a prime blue chip artist and his works seem to weather the storms of fashion in the art world.” Prints are a democratic medium because they are made in multiples and can be owned by many people. Various techniques are used, but in general an image is incised or painted onto a wood or stone block, metal plate or tile which is used to create editions of an image. Each is original but not unique and therefore tends to be more affordable and a good entry point into an artist’s market for those wanting a work by a famous artist but unable or willing to make a big financial commitment. “The Vollard Suite is certainly a masterpiece of Picasso’s work with etching,” says John Szoke, a well- known New York dealer who is one of the most knowledgeable people on Picasso’s prints, having been involved in the Picasso print market for 50 years. Each week he produces an email newsletter to send out to his subscribers, with a short essay he has written on one or another of Picasso’s print artworks. “The 100 etchings in the Vollard Suite series were made in the 1930s, over a period of seven years from 1930 to 1937, after Picasso made a deal to trade artworks by other artists with the French art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard,” Szoke says. The etchings are clustered around several of the artist’s favorite themes, includ ing the Dutch a r tist Rembrandt van Rijn, imagery of the mythical Greek Minotaur, and representations of the artists’ studio and his muse and mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. Szoke says the 100 prints were editioned in a group of 50 with large margins and another group of 250

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