- Museum number
- 2004,0602.130
- Title
- Object: Nature morte au compotier (Still-life with fruit-bowl)
- Description
-
Still-life with fruit-dish; semi-abstract composition with vase, bowl of pears and jug; 3rd state. 1908-9, published 1912
Drypoint on Vergé Arches paper
- Production date
- 1908-1909
- Dimensions
-
Height: 132 millimetres (plate)
-
Height: 248 millimetres (sheet (deckled edges))
-
Width: 110 millimetres
-
Width: 218 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This drypoint was made in the winter of 1908-09, in Paris. This impression is from the third and final state, printed after the steel facing of the copper plate by Delatre around June 1911, and published by Henry Kahnweiler in 1912. 100 impressions were signed and numbered 'no.1' to 'no.100', and a certain number numbered 'no. 0' or left unnumbered. See 1976-5-15-12 for a numbered impression.
This is the only Picasso that Alexander Walker owned, and it is the earliest work in his collection. Walker explained his choice: 'The Picasso print joins my 1921 Morandi Still Life print [2004-6-2-119] as one of the early seminal prints that both artists did...Both prints carry the strong impression of 'discovery' - self-discovery as well as technical'.
Text from 'Living with art: The Alexander Walker collection' (British Museum Press, 2020):
Picasso made his first Cubist works in around 1907 and the development of this new approach can be seen in this print, in which multiple viewpoints are suggested by the abstraction of the objects and the flattening of the image. The third of three states, it was printed by Eugène Delâtre in Paris in around June 1911 and published by Henry Kahnweiler in 1912 in an edition of 100. This impression may be one of the artist’s proofs that were signed but unnumbered. It is the earliest work in Walker’s bequest.
An impression of this print was shown in the British Museum’s 1997 exhibition 'Printmaking in Paris: Picasso and his Contemporaries', which Walker visited at least twice and described as ‘one of their very best, a mouth-watering selection’.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2004-2005 Jun-Jan, BM, Matisse to Freud: The Alexander Walker Bequest
2006 Oct-Dec, Lincoln, Usher Gallery, (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2007 Jan-Mar, Leicester, New Walk (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2007 Mar-May, Leeds, Harewood House, (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2007 Jul-Sep, Gateshead, Shipley AG, (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2020, 14 Jan - 5 March, London, BM, G90a, Living with Art: Picasso to Celmins (The Alexander Walker collection)
2020 11-24 Dec, Banbridge, F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Living with art
2021 10 May-7 Jun, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Living with art
2021 24 Jul-2 Oct, Doncaster, Danum Gallery, Library and Museum, Living with art
2022 21 Jan-24 Apr, Bideford, The Burton, Living with art
- Acquisition date
- 2004
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased by Alexander Walker from the Alan Cristea Gallery, London on 4/1/00 for £16,000. Former owner Janet Jones (labels on back of original frame).
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2004,0602.130