An Elongated Man with Two Women Telling Tales of an Old Clown and a Young Girl, from: Series 347 | Homme allongé avec deux femmes, évoquant la relation entre un vieux clown et une jeune fille, 1968
Original Hand Signed and Numbered Etching and Aquatint on Wove Paper
55 x 43 cm. / 21.7 x 16.9 x in.
This drypoint, aquatint with scraper is hand signed in pencil by the artist “Picasso” at the lower right margin.
It is dated in the plate “6.4.68.II.”
It is also hand numbered in pencil from the edition of 50, at the lower left margin. There were also 17 artist’s proofs aside from the standard edition.
This etching was printed in 1968 by the Crommelynck Brothers in France and published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris the following year.
This work is the 18th composition in the 347 series.
Note: The “347 Series” was, in printmaking, the undertaking which defined late Picasso. This prodigious outpouring of work, dating from March 16th–October 5th, 1968, deals with all his old themes and fantasies, adding an obsession newly central in the late 60s, the artist as voyeur. It is in this role, rather than that of a protagonist, that the artist figures in these fantastic narrations.
In order to be able to work with full freedom and concentration, Picasso had his printers, the brothers Crommelynck, bring the etching plates and hand press to his farmhouse near Cannes.
Complete sets of the 347 etchings are held by only a small number of museums, such as Picasso Museum in Barcelona, Spain, Picasso Museum in Paris, France, Art Institute of Chicago, United States of America and the Art Museum of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel.
Provenance: Private Collection, Connecticut, USA, 1991.
Private Collection, Minnesota, USA.
Literature: Bloch, G. (1968). Pablo Picasso: Tome II, Catalogue of the printed graphic work 1966-69. Berne: Editions Kornfeld et Klipstein.
Reference: Bloch 1498
Condition: Very good condition. Remnants of hinging tape at four points along the upper sheet edge, verso.