On May 6, Alex Cooper Auctioneers will host their Gallery Auction featuring over 540 lots of paintings, furniture, decorative arts, fine rugs, and books. With works ranging from a Picasso pitcher and Dalí sculpture to Chippendale chairs and Steuben crystal, there's a wide range for the erudite collector.
Here are 5 Picasso-focused lots not to miss:
Picasso began producing pottery following a visit to Atelier Madoura in Vallauris, France in 1946. For a number of years, Picasso prolifically produced ceramics. He loved the idea that they were functional as well as artistic and thought that perhaps the everyday person could own one, when only the wealthy could afford his paintings. This "Visage Pitcher” depicts a female face wrapped around a pitcher. The female face often makes appearances in Picasso ceramics and It is believed to be the face of his second wife, Jacqueline Roque, whom he met at Madoura in 1953.
This Picasso lithograph in colors on Arches paper, 1962, comes from an edition of 2000 and was published by Galerie Alex Maguy, Paris. It appears to be a marketing lithograph for an upcoming May-June show at the gallery.
Produced after the Picasso sketch, this lithograph was executed as a sketchbook drawing in 1955 and subsequently made available by Picasso for publication as a lithograph, printed by Mourlot, Paris in 1959. It was issued in a sketchbook-style portfolio entitled "Carnet de la Californie," Picasso's only sketchbook to be made available for print.
Coming from the estate of William J. Tudor of Baltimore is this Composition in 3 Colors lithograph after Picasso. It was produced in 1947 and the abstract composition shows Picasso's Cubist influences.
Also from the Tudor estate are these three portrait lithographs, all signed in the stone, 1966, 1967 and 1968. The 1968 version is also inscribed "Pour Roland" with book plate number 2398 ll. Roland may indicate Roland Penrose, the surrealist artist and close friend of Picasso for over 35 years.