Chapter 6: A Survey of Picasso’s Prints:
1930-1944, The Vollard Suite through Dora Maar

Figure 13. Sculpteur, Modèle, et
Sculpture Assise (Bloch 146)

 

The Vollard Suite was named for its publisher, the famous Parisian art dealer and critic, Ambroise Vollard. Vollard gave Picasso his first show and served as his art dealer early on.  In later years, he published two of Picasso’s illustrated books, and, emboldened by the success of those projects, commissioned Picasso in 1930 to create The Vollard Suite, a group of 100 prints which became Picasso’s most celebrated series. Picasso began creating these prints in 1933 and topped the series off in 1937 with three portraits of Vollard, who narcissistically insured that every one of his stable of artists created his portrait.  Picasso turned the completed copper plates over to his master printer Roger Lacourière, who printed them in 1939.  Vollard met an untimely death in a car accident that same year, and the print dealer Henri Petiet purchased the edition from Vollard’s estate.  Petiet acquired the entirety of the edition with the exception of the three portraits of Vollard, which may not have been delivered to Vollard at the same time as the rest, and, more accidently than otherwise, were not included in Petiet’s purchase.  (The only other prints that didn’t go to Petiet were the few trial proofs, which had been retained by Lacourière and not delivered to Vollard.) Petiet convinced Picasso to start signing The Suite in the 1950s, which Picasso did sporadically for many years, probably up until 1969, when he was overwhelmed with the task of signing of The 347 Series. 

Although The Vollard Suite is Picasso’s most famous print series, it is important for a collector to understand that Picasso created most of his prints as individual works of art rather than as parts of any series. Furthermore, acknowledging The Vollard Suite as his most famous series does not imply that the prints it comprises are his best prints. Some of his best prints are indeed found within The Suite, but a number of other Suite prints are, frankly, not all that accomplished. Other contemporaneously created prints are just as beautiful but, because they don’t bear the cachet of being a part of The Vollard Suite, sell for a fraction of the price. And that, even though they are in general around five times rarer than The Vollard Suite prints! A discerning collector should pick and choose carefully, but at the very least should think twice before limiting his collection, or even just his collection of prints of the ‘thirties, to The Vollard Suite.

Though the Suite in general was an expression of his neoclassical style, Picasso interestingly integrated a number of other styles into some of the Suite, typically with exceptional results. One of the more wonderful examples of this blend is the drypoint pictured below, Sculpteur, Modèle et Sculpture Assise, (Bloch 146, Fig. 13). The sculptor and the model are gazing upon his creation as if to ask, exactly what kind of humanoid is she? This prints seems to occasion this sort of reflection about the Frankenstein because, unlike the other sculptures in the Suite, this one seems almost as lifelike, and as life-size, as its admirers. In a way, the three figures seem engaged in a dialogue. The modestly folded arms of the creature almost seem to be saying, “What, who, me? Watcha starin’ at?” The other amusing pictorial element in this work is the model’s uncanny resemblance to Francoise Gilot, though this work precedes Picasso’s first encounter with that muse by a full decade. But it lends credence to what must be one of the best pick-up lines of all time, one which could only have been pulled off by a great portraitist such as Picasso, and which he tried on her shortly after their first meeting. He said something to the effect of (and I really need to find the exact reference), I’ve always had certain archetypes of women in my art and you’re one of them. I was painting you long before I met you. This line was on a par with his other classic one, by which he first invited Francoise to his apartment, ostensibly in order to see his etchings.

Table 8A. The Vollard Suite, 1930-37

Bloch #	136	139	143	146	148	149	150	152	154	155
Beauty	*	*	**	****	**	*	*	*	**	*
Significance	**	**	**	***	**	**	**	**	**	**
Rarity
Size	**	**	***	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Visibility at a distance				*
Color
Fading
Cost*	*	**	**	***	**	**	**	**	**	**
Desirability to cost ratio	*
Signature	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N

(Note: Cost estimates in The Vollard Suite are for signed impressions.)

Table 8B. The Vollard Suite, 1930-37

Bloch #	156	157	160	161	162	164	165	166	167	168
Beauty	**	**	*	*	***	*	*	*	*	*
Significance	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Rarity
Size	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Visibility at a distance
Color
Fading
Cost*	*	**	*	*	**	**	**	**	**	**
Desirability to cost ratio	*		*	*	*
Signature	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N

Table 8C. The Vollard Suite, 1930-37

Bloch #	169	170	171	172	173	174	175	176	177	178
Beauty	**	****	***	**	*	**	*	**	**	****
Significance	**	***	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	***
Rarity
Size	**	**	**	**	**	**	***	***	***	***
Visibility at a distance									*	*
Color
Fading
Cost*	*	**	**	**	**	**