Pablo Picasso Artwork Details

 

 

Detailed Description

Title: Sueno Y Mentira de Franco (Plates 1 & 2) (s.7272) The Dreams and Lies of Franco Medium: 2 Original etchings with aquatint 8/9th January 1937 Montval paper, signed with the stamp signature of the artist. These are contained in an Elephant Folio (590 x 405 mms). Loose in tinted wove-covered wrappers. with printed poems in hand-written style. Edition: There were 150 hand signed works in one edition. Our present example is from the stamp signed edition of 850. It is numbered 111/850. References: Bloch 297 & 298 ; Baer : BB. 615. IInd StateB.c ; Cramer 28 Note 1 : These famous prints were a political protest against the atrocities committed by General Franco in the Spanish Civil War which was raging at the time - Franco had just instigate a coup d’etat and become the leader. The original idea was to make individual postcards of the 18 etchings made by Picasso. The artist had been inspired by the comics and images of Epinal who made comic strips. Picasso derides the exploits of the spurious caballero Franco who, instead of attacking the enemy, strikes his own horse. He fights under the banner of a flea and prays at the alter of money. He is shown as a sort of phallic centaur sitting astride a pig and finally as a monstrous horse, vanquished by a triumphant bull. Picasso eventually abandoned the idea of making postcards from his 18 etchings and finally decided to make them into two plates for this series. With the recent bombing of Guernica in mind he etched the other 4 scenes, no longer in the style of caricature, but clearly derisory of his adversary. The tyrant is accused by suffering women and by mothers crying out in despair. The work comes in a folder with Picasso’s poem in the expressive, surrealist style which was a feature of his work at the time. The proceeds from the sale of these etchings went to a fund for aiding Republicans in Spain. Note 2: The plate, cancelled in 1983, still exists. Printed by: Lacouriere, Paris, France, June 1937 - printed just the etchings. The printer for the text is unknown. Size: 317 x 322 mms (plate size); 388 x 570 mms (Paper size) Price: £8500-00