All lots
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Autograph correspondence with Max Pellequer, the Vallauris years, 1950-1955
35 signed autograph letters in various formats and materials.
- 19 letters (2 May 1950 - 3 May 1950 - 5 May 1950 - 11 May 1950 - 3 March 1953 - 17.4.53 - 20 April 1953 - 1er Aug. 1953 - 30 Sept. 1953 - 17 October 1953 - 28.12.53 - 4.1.54 - 11.2.54 - 28.4.54 - 20 Jul. 54 - 29.9.54 - 26 March 1955 - 15.4.55 - undated). Various formats. Blue ink, pencil, colored pencils. Administrative letters in which Picasso mostly mentions banking issues.
- 2 May 1950. 1 page in-quarto. Black ink.
Picasso mensions his driver Marcel [Boudin] who "makes 20.000 francs per month".
- 7 September 1951. 2 pages in-quarto. Black ink.
Picasso mentions firing his driver (having driven for him for 25 years, he is let go after having an accident 60 km from Paris).
- 5.12.53. 2 pages in-quarto. Red pencil.
Picasso complains about receiving papers regarding Francoise Gilot and considers taking on his son Paul as chauffeur.
- 27 July 1950. 1 page in-quarto. Black ink.
"I work... Every day at the studio until 9PM, I don't know to do anything else.? The letter ends with the date of the inauguration of L'homme au mouton monument on Aug. 6, 4PM ( gift from Picasso in 1949, installed on the Place du Marche in Vallauris).
- 12 September 1950. 1 page in-quarto. Brown felt-tip pen.
Picasso acts as guarantor for the Nice communist newspaper 'Le Patriote', for an amount of 1,5 M francs.
- 12 November 1951. 1 page in-quarto. Blue ink.
Picasso mentions his sculptural work: "- a little girl with a jump rope, a monkey and its child, a crane, a flowerpot. I stay in the studio until ten or ten thirty and I start again as soon as possible".
- 22 November 1951. 1 page in-quarto. Blue ink.
Picasso asks that he lends the painting "of the woman with the cloudy cornea... Please give me that pleasure ". He refers to the Celestina painted in Barcelona in 1904.
- 5 June 1954 . 1 page in-quarto. Blue ink.
Picasso thanks him for lending the painting [for the "Picasso, oeuvres de 1900 a 1914 exhibition in the museums of Leningrad and Moscow and a few private collections, Maison de la pensee francaise, Paris, 9 June to 28 Sept. 1954].
- 7 September 1952. 2 pages in-octo. Blue ink.
Picasso speaks of his work "I started wanting to make a huge painting, 110 sq meters. Imagine the headline. And also, you know me, drawings, etchings, lithographs, but that's who I am and nothing can change that."
He is referring to the panels for 'War' and 'Peace' which will be installed in the chapel of the Chateau de Vallauris.
- 3 January 1953. 1 page in-quarto each. Blue ink.
Picasso mentions a ceramic set which is not yet finished.
- 5 letters (10.2.53 - 25 April 1953 - 16 June 1953 - 29 April 1953 - 17 July 1953). 1 page in-quarto each. Blue ink ou pink felt-tip pen.
Picasso mentions a canvas for his dining room which he has not yet begun working on and his next exhibition in Rome (at the galleria d'arte moderno & contemporeneo, from 5 May to 5 July 1953).
- 28.3.55. 1 page in-quarto. Blue ink.
Picasso informs him he will be biuying a house. He is mosyt likely referring to the La Californie villa in Cannes.
Note : In 1946, accompanied by Paul Eluard, Picasso travels to Valllauris, between Antibes and Cannes. He meets Suzanne and Georges Ramie, potters at the head of the Madoura pottery. From this moment on, ceramic will be a large aprt of the artist's production. He moves to Vallauris with Francoise Gilot and his two children Claude and Paloma, in the La Galloise villa. Their relationship ended in 1953.
