William Steig: Four Harlequins

No doubt there's a story or two behind William Steig's four small harlequin drawings, hand-titled "Figures" on the backing of the frame. By the 1950s, Steig had fallen under the influence of Picasso and came to draw with an expressive looseness not present in his earlier work from the 1930s and 1940s. Picasso's harlequin images could certainly have inspired the subject matter of these figures as well. For what purpose they were created and wether or not they were published is, for now, a mystery. Over time, they suffered indignities from exposure to light and an apparently acidic matte. There is bound to be a story too about how the originals went from the possession of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. S. Sweet of Mount Carmel to an auction house in Berlin. They were put on the block this week with an estimate of 360 Euros ($387) and an opening bid of 240 Euros ($258). The lot went unsold.

William Steig

Nosbüsch & Stucke GmbH listing accessed May 1, 2022

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Steig,-William.-4-Figures.-Vier-Federzeichnugen-2024-c-FCA4FA183A?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=artistalerts&utm_content=default

Note:  Those aware of the publication history, if any, of these drawings should feel free to chime in.

03967

Pablo Picasso, Cartoonist

"I was very suspicious of high culture, not of low, and it took a long time for me to crack the code and say, ‘You know what, Picasso’s a pretty good cartoonist.'"

 --Art Spiegelman

While I doubt the art world is ready to acknowledge Pablo Picasso's status as a "pretty good cartoonist," I think that Art Spiegelman is on to something here. You wouldn't make such a statement about Cezanne, Matisse, or--paradoxically--Lichtenstein. Picasso creates fine art in a way that is immediate, comprehensible, and accessible. In much of Picasso's art the line-work is bold and direct, simplicity itself. You think, I can do that, only you can't. The act of creation seems spontaneous.  Playful, comic, even absurd motifs don't make the fine art any less fine.

One could imagine a cartoonist such as William Steig drawing many of the same subjects as Picasso. In fact, Steig was influenced strongly by Picasso (see Brendan Gill's Here at the New Yorker [1975], p. 238), and he is far from alone in that among cartoonists and artists of all sorts. Picasso has exerted his influence across the world of cartooning.

Here are two works by Picasso that you wouldn't call cartoons, yet looking beyond the stunning yet simple technique they have intensity, humor, and humanity, which incidentally are elements of many a fine cartoon as well.

Pablo Picasso, Tête d'Homme de Face, February 19, 1968

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-l12007#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L12007.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L12007.html/311/

Catalogue Notes to Pablo Picasso, Tête d'Homme de Face, February 19, 1968

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-l12007#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L12007.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L12007.html/311/

Pablo Picasso, Femme et Nain, December 18, 1953

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-l12007#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L12007.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L12007.html/319/

Art Spiegelman 

January 19, 2013:  Video no longer available

 

Note:  I am indebted to Austin Kleon for discussing this video here, thus bringing Mr. Spiegelman's intriguing quotation to my attention. 

My most recent Picasso post regards his Déjeuner series and can be found here. 

Art Spiegelman created the 2002 poster in my New York is Book Country post here.

0387

Picasso's Les Dejéuners

On May 3, this crayon drawing by Pablo Picasso was sold at Sotheby's for over $100,000. 
Picasso had taken inspiration from Edouard Manet's famous painting Le déjeuner sur l'herbe 
in Paris to create a series of works with the same title. A book about the series was published 
in 1962 and Picasso made this drawing in a copy of the book and inscribed it to Domingo Martinez.

Picasso freely based his compositions on Manet's masterpiece. Manet in turn had adapted the 
central triad of figures from an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2011/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-n08851#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.N08851.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.N08851.html/127/

[End of Sotheby's auction listing]

Picasso had been fascinated with Manet's composition for some years:

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Etude d'après "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe" de Manet : buste des 4 personnages, 26-29 June 1954. Mine de plomb. H. 27 ; L. 21 cm. Paris, Musée Picasso 

© Succession Picasso 2008 - Photo RMN / Béatrice Hatala

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

A bookseller's composite photo of the dust cover, spine, and two facing color plates from Picasso's Les Dejéuners, with text by Douglas Cooper, Editions Cercle d'Art, Paris.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=3130082237&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

Front cover board to Picasso's Les Dejéuners

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=3130082237&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

Back cover board to Picasso's Les Dejéuners with a color plate inset
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=3130082237&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

Title page to Picasso's Les Dejéuners with inset color plate

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=3130082237&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

Two pairs of facing color plates to Picasso's Les Dejéuners
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=3130082237&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

A variant of the dustwrapper image

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1393314496&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=974066635&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=974066635&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

Signed lithograph appearing in 150 copies of the deluxe edition of the book

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1163088650&searchurl=kn%3Dpicasso%26sortby%3D1%26tn%3Dles%2Bdejeuners

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 1960.

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 27 February 1960.

Oil on canvas, London, Nahmad Gallery 

© Succession Picasso, 2008

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 3 March-20 August 1960, 

Oil on canvas. H. 130 ; L. 195 cm. Paris, Musée Picasso 

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 1960.

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 1961

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 1961

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 13 July 1961.

Oil on canvas. H. 60 ; L. 73 cm. Paris, Musée Picasso 

© Succession Picasso 2008 - Photo RMN / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

The fifth composition of July 26, 1961:

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Les déjeuners, July 26, 1961, V

Image added July 2, 2012

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/impressionist-modern-art-evening-sale-l12006#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L12006.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L12006.html/1/

Catalogue Note for Pablo Picasso, Les déjeuners, July 26, 1961, V

Auction added July 2, 2012

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/impressionist-modern-art-evening-sale-l12006#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L12006.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L12006.html/1/

The sixth composition of the same date:

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, July 26, 1961, VI

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 1961

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 27 juillet 1961.

Huile sur toile. H. 65 ; L. 81 cm. Paris, Musée Picasso 

© Succession Picasso 2008 - Photo RMN / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe : femme assise, 26 August, 1962.

Carton découpé, mine de plomb. H. 31,3 ; L. 25 ; Pr. 21,5 cm. Paris, Musée Picasso 

© Succession Picasso 2008 - Photo RMN / Béatrice Hatala

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 17 June 1962. 

Mine de plomb, pastel. H. 42,5 ; L. 52 cm. Paris, Musée Picasso

© Succession Picasso 2008 - Photo RMN / DR

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 

13 March 1962, Estampe. H. 52,9 ; L. 64 cm. Paris, Musée Picasso 

© Succession Picasso 2008 - RMN / Martine Beck-Copolla

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2008/10/10/10897266.html

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet, 1962

http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso14a.html

Framed exhibition poster by Picasso

Click here.

Exhibition Poster

Pablo Picasso

Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe Lithographic Poster, 1962, 

19" x 15.5" Ref. Czwiklitzer # 184 

Edition: 2250 

http://en.amorosart.com/artwork-picasso-dejeuner_sur_l_herbe-15008-en.html

Another related example from Christie's New York:

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) 

Déjeuner sur l'herbe

Image replaced June 15, 2015

signed, dated and dedicated 'Picasso le 3.7.62. Pour Pierre de Champris son ami' (along the upper edge)

colored felt-tip pens on paper 
10 5/8 x 8 1/8 in. (27 x 20.6 cm.) 
Drawn on 3 July 1962 

Price Realized

$37,500
• Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.

Estimate

$25,000 - $35,000

Sale Information

Sale 2438 Lot 192
Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper 
5 May 2011 

New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Provenance

Pierre de Champris, Paris (gift from the artist).
Acquired by the present owner, by 2005. 

http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5432784

Manet's original:

Edouard Manet, Le Dejéuner sur L'Herbe, 1863

Oil on canvas, 214 x 269 cm (84 1/4 x 106 1/4")

Musee d'Orsay, Paris

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/manet/manet_dejeuner.jpg.html

Marcantonio Raimondi, The Judgment of Paris (detail) 

http://yorkshiresoul.blogspot.com/2011/06/le-dejeuner-sur-lherbe.html

Marcantonio Raimondi, The Judgment of Paris (full engraving)

http://yorkshiresoul.blogspot.com/2011/06/le-dejeuner-sur-lherbe.html

Note:  My most recent post on another Picasso presentation drawing in a book is here.

0335