The turn of the twentieth century saw Pablo Picasso earnestly embark on his journey into printmaking, beginning with set of etchings loosely based on the theme of the circus. Produced between 1905-6, The Saltimbanques Suite – derived from a French term referring to acrobatic circus performers – was initiated principally to earn the impoverished artist some money, but it also marked the start of an extraordinary career-long journey in printmaking. The series went largely unnoticed until the dealer Ambroise Vollard rediscovered it six years after its creation. Vollard suggested steel-facing the plates (coating them with a thin layer of metal) to prevent them from deteriorating during the printing process, and proceeded to publish them in editions of 250 that sold successfully. An unusually large commission for an artist with little experience in the medium, the impetus reflects Vollard’s recognition of Picasso’s extraordinary artistic vision long before he reached wide-spread acclaim. Vollard would remain a prominent figure in the artist’s career, playing an active role in the dissemination and promotion of Picasso’s works for many years after the publication of The Saltimbanques Suite.
Left: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg), 1879, Art Institute Chicago. Image: Art Institute of Chicago, Potter Palmer Collection
Right: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Circus: The Spanish Walk (Au Cirque: Le Pas espagnol), 1899, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975Executed in dry-point, Au cirque (At the Circus) is distinguished for its astonishing economy and elegance of line, and reveals Picasso’s sophisticated eye in his nascent etchings. The duplicated figure appears almost as a mirage, only just stepping into tangible reality. Lingering in a disconsolate, bare setting, the composition is imbued with poignant melancholy and speaks to Picasso’s sympathy for nomadic circus performers who often existed on the outskirts of society.
Picasso’s Saltimbanque Suite continues the fin-de-siècle enthusiasm for circus performers among both artists and bourgeois social circles who relished the entertainment. Coinciding with a period of political and cultural transformation, Paris hosted an assortment of professional circuses which in turn provided a fertile ground for artists in search of new inspiration. The dangerous acrobatics of travelling circuses also proliferated Francisco de Goya’s etchings, for example Punctual Folly from the 1815 series Los Disparates, which Picasso admired ardently. The acrobat dances precariously atop the horse, recalling the same composition of Picasso’s more refined execution in Au cirque (At the Circus). As the subject matter was further explored in numerous artist’s oeuvres – from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to Pierre-Auguste Renoir – the young Picasso rose to the challenge of inserting his ambitious renditions into the already established popular artistic vogue.
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Punctual Folly (Disparate puntual), c. 1815-23, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Image: Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Purchased with the Joseph E. Temple Fund and the Edgar Viguers Seeler Fund, 1948Literature
Georges Bloch 9
Brigitte Baer 11Artist 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.
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Au cirque (At the Circus), plate 9 from La Suite des Saltimbanques (Bl. 9, Ba. 11)
1905-06
Drypoint, on Van Gelder paper, with full margins.
I. 22 x 14 cm (8 5/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
S. 48.7 x 33.2 cm (19 1/8 x 13 1/8 in.)
From the edition of 250 (there were also 27 or 29 proofs on Japan paper), published by Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 1913, framed.
Estimate
£5,000 - 7,000 ‡♠
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Pablo Picasso: Paper and Clay
London Auction 6 June 2024
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This lot is no longer available.
