Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Le Berger
Watercolor and ink wash over linocut on paper
1964
Signed lower right
24.25 x 29.5 in/ 61,6 x 75 cm
Framed: 34 x 39 / 86,3 x 99 cm

Provenance:
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Private Collection, France
By descent to current owner

Literature:
C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso Oeuvres de 1964, vol. XXIV, Paris 1971, no. 13 (illustrated p.6)

Documentation:
Louise Leiris, Paris, Photograph certificate
Galerie Louise Leiris label, verso
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Paris, Photograph certificate 1968
Watercolor and linocut were frequented mediums for Picasso, a journeyman in form. Initially experimenting with linocut in 1939, Picasso returned to the medium in 1951 and retooled the process so that only one block might be utilized per work instead of the as many as six the process typically required prior to that. Le Berger is a product of this invention, with linocut becoming a favorite medium of Picasso’s in the decade following his return to the medium.

Shepherd subjects, as depicted in Le Berger, were not uncommon in Picasso’s work. One of his most famous sculptures, Man with a Lamb, was crafted between 1943-1944, in the midst of World War II. Following the war and this sculpture’s creation, shepherds became subjects in multiple of Picasso’s works, including La Danse du Berger, Shepherd and Goat, and Étude Pour l'Homme Au Mouton.

This is an online only sale. Items may be viewed upon appointment in New York City.

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