Pablo Picasso

PABLO PICASSO (Málaga, 1881 – Mougins, France, 1973).
“Picasso lithographe,” vol. I, 1919–1947.
Foreword by Jaime Sabartés.
Catalog compiled by Fernand Mourlot.
Monte Carlo, André Sauret / Éditions du Livre, 1949.
Copy numbered 1885, from an edition of 2,500 copies printed on Grand Vélin Renage.
The following pages are missing: 17 through 32, 105 through 124, 145 and 146, 151 and 152.
Measurements: 33 x 25.5 cm.

First volume of the renowned catalog raisonné of Pablo Picasso’s lithographic work, compiled by Fernand Mourlot and published by André Sauret in Monte Carlo. The work documents the artist’s lithographic output between 1919 and 1947, a pivotal period for understanding Picasso’s mastery of this medium, particularly following his collaboration with the Mourlot workshops in Paris.

Lithography allowed Picasso to explore line, mark-making, and the tonal possibilities of black with great freedom, bringing to paper an immediacy akin to drawing. This volume, with a preface by Jaime Sabartés, is one of the seminal publications for the study of Picasso’s graphic work and also retains the unique appeal of historic postwar editions directly linked to Mourlot.

Pablo Picasso is one of the key figures in 20th-century art. A co-founder of Cubism alongside Georges Braque, he developed a career marked by constant formal renewal, from the Blue and Rose periods through Cubism, Classicism, ceramics, sculpture, and printmaking. His work is represented in institutions such as the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, the Musée national Picasso-Paris, MoMA in New York, the Tate in London, and the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid.