Picasso 347, Deluxe 2 Volume First Edition of Picasso's Etchings

Picasso 347, 2 Volumes

Featuring 347 Etchings and Aquatints by Pablo Picasso

FINE Condition

This is a beautifully produced 2 volume first edition of “Picasso 347” published by Random House/Maecenas Press, New York in 1970. The 347 Series were produced in a torrent in 1968 when Picasso was eighty-seven, and was his penultimate series of prints made in collaboration with the master printers Aldo and Piero Crommelynck at their studio at Mougins, in the south of France. Completed between March and October, 1968, the series was originally intended as illustrations for Fernando de Roja's 1499 novel "La Célestine" illustrating the life of an aging procuress. The prints quickly outgrew the novel, however, and came to encompass Picasso's own life and experiences (describing himself as 'theatrum mundi') and went on to record Picasso's reactions to works by earlier masters (Rembrandt, Degas, Velázquez, and Goya). When the prints were exhibited, the effect was overwhelming, and forced attentive viewers to come back again and again. This edition offers the opportunity to gain some experience of the exhibit. The full set of prints, in all their varied techniques, approaches and moods, are presented in large full page plates, grouped in two volumes. Artnet commented on Picasso 347, “Bound in their original black cloth boards with gilt embossing, this folio set is a scarce chronicling of Picasso work. Pablo Picasso was never shy about depicting eroticism in his work. From his earliest drawings to his last series, sex in all its pathos, pain, humor and lust is a constant influence, and his famous 347 series was no exception. The result is a series of delicately drawn erotic encounters that are both touching in their humanity and sensual in their depiction.”

Measuring 17.5" x 12.5" and weighing in at over 20 lbs., each book is covered in beige buckram with firm black cloth boards, purple endpapers, and gold gilt on the top edge. The two volumes are housed in a traycase that has purple cloth on the bottom, inside cover, and on the separator between books. The books and traycase are in FINE condition with the traycase showing very minimal surface wear.

Stock photographs of the books and traycase as well as etchings from the collection appear below. Although the thumbnails may appear digitized, you can click your mouse on the thumbnail to view the picture in the photo viewer.