Picasso and Les Saltimbanques

Picasso. Les livres d’artiste: The collection of Mr. A*** is opening tomorrow! Looking forward to this event, we are highlighting Picasso’s first book contribution here—the Rose Period drypoint Les Saltimbanques for André Salmon‘s Poèmes.

See the collection in person tomorrow at our opening reception, 6-9pm!

André Salmon, Poèmes, 1905

In 1904 Picasso moved from Barcelona to the bohemian centre of Montmartre in Paris, where he lived in a run-down house his friend Max Jacob would later dub the “Bateau-Lavoir”. The house soon came to function as a meeting place for such young avant-garde figures as Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Fort, and André Salmon. It was from this milieu that the young Salmon’s first collection, Poèmes – the first volume to contain an original print by Picasso – was published in 1905 by Vers et Prose, a quarterly review recently founded by Paul Fort, with Salmon serving as its editorial secretary and Apollinaire as administrator. The 32 poems in the collection are variously dedicated to the avant-garde artists and poets in their circle.

The poem “Le Banquet” is dedicated to Picasso and speaks of figures on the fringes of society, including prostitutes, bandits, poets, artists, and the itinerant circus performers known as saltimbanques. Marginal figures are seen throughout Picasso’s Blue Period, where cold hues emphasize loneliness and melancholia, but saltimbanques in particular also helped bring about the shift to the more optimistic Rose Period, characterized by warmer colours and a focus on a collective unity outside mainstream society, as with his friends at the Bateau-Lavoir. This collectivity is most often seen in the coming together of carnival performers, harlequins, and clowns, as with this drypoint of two young saltimbanques.

Number 22 of 25, printed on holland, and a deluxe copy, 1 of 10 to include the drypoint printed on japan. Monogrammed by the author on the limitation page, with a signed dedication on the half-title: “A mon cher Alfred / A ma grande cousine / A mes petits cousines / André Salmon”. Sm. 8vo (191 x 129 mm). 53 partly numbered leaves, including an additional blank leaf at the beginning and not including the drypoint, which is unbound. Uncut, original wrappers preserved in a small-grain half-morocco chemise signed by Alain Devauchelle, with matching slipcase. Spine with five raised bands and lettered in gold.

How to cite this information

Julia Stimac, "Picasso and Les Saltimbanques," 23 October 2019, www.prphbooks.com/blog/2019/10/23/picassos-first-book-contribution. Accessed [date].

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