"La Suite Vollard" by Pablo Picasso – ICO (Instituto de Crédito Oficial) Edition

Complete portfolio of 7 lithographs, ICO edition (Instituto de Crédito Oficial). The ICO holds one of the very few complete sets of the Suite Vollard.
The portfolio includes 3 lithographs with Pablo Picasso’s printed signature and 4 lithographs without a signature.
Each lithograph measures 35x25 cm.
This is a very rare edition, now difficult to find.

The Artwork

The Suite Vollard is considered by many historians as the pinnacle of 20th-century printmaking. It was created by Pablo Picasso between September 1930 and June 1936 and is named after art dealer Ambroise Vollard, a close friend of the painter. Their relationship, though never continuous, began as early as 1901 and reached its peak with the creation of the Suite Vollard. Contrary to popular belief, this series of one hundred prints was not a direct commission from the dealer to the artist but rather the result of a friendly and commercial exchange. In 1937, Vollard obtained a series of 97 copper plates engraved by the artist in exchange for a significant number of paintings from his collection, which Picasso desired for his private collection.

A few years earlier, the Málaga-born painter had proposed an original project to the gallerist: to portray him each time he visited. In 1910 and 1915, Picasso had painted two portraits of Vollard on canvas. However, another series of portraits on paper remained incomplete, with only three pieces finished, due to Vollard's death. In 1937, the 97 copper plates were joined by the three portraits on paper, bringing the total number of works to what we now know as the Suite Vollard. The final edition began printing in 1939, just before Vollard’s death in July of that year. The prints were first exhibited in 1979 at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris and later became part of the collection of the Picasso Museum in Paris.

The Suite Vollard is the result of intensely creative moments in which Picasso, as if keeping a personal diary, developed his artistic obsessions. Excluding the three portraits of Vollard, the prints revolve around four main thematic subjects. The most extensive series is The Sculptor’s Studio (46 of the 100 prints), a theme in which Picasso repeatedly explores the often erotic relationship between the artist and his model, whose face can be recognized as that of his lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter. These prints are also particularly interesting as they showcase Picasso’s sculptural work from the late 1920s and early 1930s. Another small series within the Suite, The Battle of Love, is closely related to the previous one. In these works, the erotic relationship with the model becomes much more violent, even aggressive.

More tender and melancholic, yet dramatic at the same time, are the prints in the Minotaur series, the other dominant theme of the Suite Vollard. The Minotaur is an emblematic and enigmatic character, driven by powerful sexual and criminal impulses, yet also tender and solitary. Picasso identified with this figure, which recurs throughout his body of work.

Finally, four plates are dedicated to the figure of Rembrandt, the great master of printmaking whom Picasso admired and sought to rival.

In 1991, the Instituto de Crédito Oficial acquired one of the few complete series of the Suite Vollard in existence, which now forms a fundamental part of its collections. It can be periodically viewed at the Museo Colecciones ICO.