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Picasso’s
Juene Femme (Pretty Woman)
and
The Armchair Woman (variente)
These two lithographs are a rare combination that shows another example of the brilliance of Picasso. Picasso only began doing lithographs in 1945. As the story goes, he decided he wanted to “try his hand” at this art form. He went to his friend Fernand Mourlot of Mourlot Publishers in Paris and declared he wanted to learn lithography. They were the publishers for Chagall, Miro and all the major artists of the day. He told Picasso to take his time and after a number of months Picasso said he was ready to begin. They asked him how many men he would need and he responded “None - I will do it all myself”. Apparently, he did many things the lithographers said were “impossible.” The duel lithograph, The Armchair Woman (variente), is his only duel lithograph and it is only Rembrandt who has done this difficult to produce image before. It is uncertain if it has been done since.
In January, 1949, Picasso made the lithograph, The Armchair Woman (Mourlot #137). The face is not very attractive or interesting and not well proportioned. It is said to be the face of Dora Maar with whom Picasso had an affair that ended many years ago. In February, the same year, he did the smaller lithograph Jeune Femme (Mourlot #153). This is said to be the face of Francios Gilot, his then current lover who was pregnant with her second child by Picasso, Paloma. It is sublime. At some later time, for some reason it is not dated in the catalogue, he decided to juxtapose the Juene Femme (Young Woman) and The Armchair Woman to create The Armchair Woman (variente) (Mourlot #154). As mentioned, this is his only duel lithograph.
The combination of these two pieces together is the only one in the world available and the prospect of finding another The Armchair Woman (variente) is unlikely. There were 5 artist’s proofs created.
Juene Femme was done in the first state in a series of 5 artist’s proofs and later an edition of 15 because it was going to be used in the planned Centenary Picasso Mourlot album. There are also the edition of 100 included in the Centenary Album (1952). This Juene Femme image is from a second state, in a series of 15, that was created in 1952 for choosing of the image to be used in the Centenary Album, Mourlot - Picasso. These were inscribed in red “Pour le Centenaire de Mourlot-Picasso”.
The Armchair Woman (variente) was only done in a series of 5 artist’s proofs. Mourlot ran one for himself and this piece is noted in verso “bonne variante 6/6 FM". This means it is marked on the back of the piece and it was done by Fernand Mourlot (FM) for his own use. The piece came from the Mourlot Collection. There was never an edition of this piece. I have been told that two are in museums, one being The Norton Simon Museum. Apparently, it was too difficult to do an edition of a duel lithograph and Picasso never did another duel lithograph because of the difficulty of the printing. I have been told that only Rembrandt before Picasso had done one or more duel lithographs and that no artist has done one since.
Price on Request
Donald S. Weiss
September 28, 2008
Revised - October 29, 2008
Revised - August 17, 2009
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