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Linocut in colours, 1959, on watermarked Arches paper, signed in pencil, an artist’s proof aside from the standard edition of 50, printed by Imprimerie Arnéra, published by Galerie Louise Leiris, 75.1 x 62.1 cm. (29½ x 24½ in.)
When Picasso moved to the Côte d’Azur in the 1950s he found it harder to produce etchings and lithographs as both required specialist equipment, however it was not long before he met the local printmaker Hidalgo Arnéra who introduced him to the linocut process. Together the artist-printmaker duo created the groundbreaking ‘reduction method’ of linocutting, where only a single piece of linoleum was required to print each colour one wanted to use. During this decade, Picasso’s linocuts are characterised by their wonderfully rich colours and bold patterning as shown here in ‘Bouquet dans un Vase’. The classical motif of a still-life is simplified to suit the sweeping, fluid lines of Picasso’s modernist linocut. Inspired by his surroundings in Vallauris, Picasso limited his palette to terracotta colours to emulate the sun-baked villages of the South of France and the hues of his clay ceramics which he was producing at the same time.
