“Pablo loved to surround himself with birds and animals. In general, they were exempt from the suspicion with which he regarded his other friends.”
—Françoise GilotWith solid black lines and simplified forms, Pablo Picasso’s artistic mastery comes to life in his depictions of animals. Picasso’s life, like his art, was filled with creatures great and small, from indoor house-trained goats to a mouse he kept in a drawer. Influenced by his father’s pigeon breeding, Picasso’s lifelong appreciation for the natural world was ignited when he started to paint pigeons as a child. While often infused with symbolism, and used in his works as political messengers, Picasso’s menagerie is as much a representation of his wit, as his ideology.
Lucien Clergue, Picasso Discovering a Toad, 1968, Los Angeles Museum of Art. Image: Museum Associates/LACMA/Art Resource NY/Scala, Florence, Artwork: © Lucien Clergue / DACS, London 2023 At first glance, Picasso’s Le crapaud is a reduction in forms of the tailless toad to a combination of outlined shapes. Yet, this simplification is counterbalanced with a variety of tonal changes indicating the amphibian’s flesh. With varying textural applications, the artist conveys the enigma of the toad’s skin – that which is never touched and lives in a sensory ambiguity. With flattened and elongated feet and toes, the toad is suctioned to his base, bracing himself to leap forth from the page. These details, often overlooked, highlight Picasso’s fine-tuned creative insight, and ability to depict the essence of a character with only ink and paper.
Provenance
Alan Cristea Gallery, London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner, circa 2000Literature
Georges Bloch 585
Fernand Mourlot 144
Felix Reuße 448Artist Biography
Pablo Picasso
Spanish • 1881 - 1973
One of the most dominant and influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was a master of endless reinvention. While significantly contributing to the movements of Surrealism, Neoclassicism and Expressionism, he is best known for pioneering the groundbreaking movement of Cubism alongside fellow artist Georges Braque in the 1910s. In his practice, he drew on African and Iberian visual culture as well as the developments in the fast-changing world around him.
Throughout his long and prolific career, the Spanish-born artist consistently pushed the boundaries of art to new extremes. Picasso's oeuvre is famously characterized by a radical diversity of styles, ranging from his early forays in Cubism to his Classical Period and his later more gestural expressionist work, and a diverse array of media including printmaking, drawing, ceramics and sculpture as well as theater sets and costumes designs.
Property from a Distinguished Private Collection
5
Le crapaud (The Toad) (Bl. 585, M. 144, R. 448)
1949
Lithograph, on Arches paper, the full sheet.
S. 50 x 65.2 cm (19 5/8 x 25 5/8 in.)
Signed and numbered 31/50 in red pencil (there were also 5 artist's proofs), printed by Fernand Mourlot, Paris, framed.
Estimate
£12,000 - 18,000 ♠
Sold for £15,240
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Evening & Day Editions
London Auction 7 - 8 June 2023
