Question: I am looking for a more colorful piece than the prints you show. Do you have any? -GH
Response: There are very few Picasso prints that are both colored and great and none that we presently own. I wouldn’t need all the fingers of one hand to count the truly great ones. Almost without exception, Picasso’s greatest prints are black-and-white, as is widely acknowledged. Only one multicolored print enters most sophisticated collectors’ top 10 list. And most colors fade, so that today, 50 years or more after their printing, most of the available colored prints have faded to one degree or another. Add to that the realization that color increases cost dramatically, and one is often led to the conclusion that the goal should be great concept and great design, with perhaps less emphasis on color. To top it off, as Picasso said, “Color weakens.” I ultimately don’t buy it, and Picasso, who had elevated goofing on his interviewer to an art form long before Bob Dylan was born, may not have exactly meant it either, but it’s amusing to trot out his quote on such occasions. In any event, I find that it is easier (and less costly) to provide the much-needed color in one’s decor in other ways, such as with the works of lesser artists, while cherishing Picasso for the breathtaking genius of his line, a line alternately complex and (deceptively) simple. -Kobi