Pablo Picasso – Ces Peintres Nos Amis, Tome II. Cannes, Galerie 65, 1960.
Rare /Complete book/catalog
Large-format illustrated art book published by Galerie 65, Cannes, with text by Gilberte Duclaud and biographical documentation compiled by Serge Chamchy. The work constitutes an important documentary publication dedicated to the artists closely associated with the gallery and with the artistic milieu of the Côte d’Azur during the late 1950s. The volume was conceived not merely as a catalogue but as a cultural record of the gallery’s circle, bringing together historical commentary, photographic documentation and artistic material related to painters active around Cannes and the French Riviera.
The book was printed in Cannes by Imprimerie Devaye, while the lithographic work was executed in Paris by the legendary Atelier Mourlot, the workshop responsible for many of the most important lithographs produced by Pablo Picasso during the post-war decades. The publication appears in a large bibliophilic format of approximately 45 × 33 cm, printed on fine Vélin d’Arches paper, consistent with the high standards of French art publishing of the period.
The edition was limited to 250 copies, each issued with an original colour lithograph by Pablo Picasso entitled “L’Atelier de Cannes.” This lithograph is fully documented in the standard catalogues raisonnés of Picasso’s prints as Bloch 794 and Mourlot 279, and is also recorded as Reuße 677 in Miguel Orozco’s bibliographic research on Picasso illustrated books. The composition originates from Picasso’s work related to the project “Dans l’Atelier de Picasso.” On 5 December 1958, Picasso revisited the image and enriched it with a series of additional colours, transforming the original composition into the vivid multicolour lithograph that would later be printed by Mourlot for this publication.
The final lithographic version, printed on Arches paper, was produced using new lithographic stones prepared at Atelier Mourlot in order to faithfully reproduce the additional colours introduced by the artist. The resulting work, “L’Atelier de Cannes,” is characteristic of Picasso’s late graphic language, combining rapid linear drawing with expressive colour fields and a playful, studio-based subject.
Although the edition originally comprised 250 complete copies, the majority were later dismantled because the Picasso lithograph quickly became desirable as an independent print. As a result, many examples of the book were broken up so that the lithographic cover could be sold separately on the art market. For this reason, surviving copies retaining the complete publication together with the original Picasso lithograph are significantly scarcer today than the lithograph itself.
A complete example preserves the work in the context intended by the publisher and by Picasso’s collaboration with Galerie 65. Beyond the lithograph, the volume also constitutes a valuable historical document of the artistic network surrounding Cannes during the late 1950s and reflects the close relationship between Picasso, the gallery and the Mourlot workshop. As such, intact copies are particularly sought after by collectors of Picasso illustrated books, livres d’artiste and twentieth-century art publications, where the preservation of the complete bibliophilic object is considered essential
