Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - Lot 225

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) The Embrace. 1905. Etching on zinc. 235 x 177. Bloch, Geiser, Baer 16. A very fine and extremely rare proof on thin old vellum, late signed by Picasso in pencil. A few light brown spots one under the signature. A spot of rust in the left margin. Normal rippling at edges. All margins [445 x 296], top margin with slightly irregular edge (original). Baer lists only one proof before strikethrough, printed in brown, in the National Gallery in Prague. Two other proofs appeared in sales from the Petiet collection (December 16, 1997 and December 3, 2009). The copper was crossed out in 1913 by Fort after steeling. No prints were made (perhaps because the plate was considered unsatisfactory). However, "a few proofs on vellum were printed, between 1946 and 1955, at the request of Petiet, then owner of the zinc. 1, signed and belonging to Petiet, was exhibited at the Bibliothèque nationale (Paris) in 1955; another, signed in 1966, was part of the Georges Bloch collection." (B. Geiser, revised by B. Baer, Picasso peintre-graveur, catalog raisonné de l'œuvre gravé et lithographié et des monotypes 1899-1931, tome I, Bern, ed. Kornfeld, 1990, p. 42).