Pablo Picasso Spanish, 1881-1973
Sheet: 34.3 x 44.8 cm
Henri Marie Petiet (1894-1980), Parisian print dealer, bibliophile, publisher of fine books and collector. Nicknamed " the Baron Petiet", he took over Ambroise Vollard's print collection and became "one of the greatest print dealers of his time". (L'art et son marchand. Henri Marie Petiet by C. Oddo). His first acquisitions were prints by Maurice Denis, Odilon Redon and Pablo Picasso, which he bought from Ambroise Vollard.
His reputation for exacting standards soon preceded him in France, and made him a force to be reckoned with abroad. America became his main field of choice, where in a short space of time he built up university and museum collections of 19th and 20th century prints of the utmost importance, notably the MoMA collection in New York. In this, he followed the example of the great painting dealers who, from the fin XIXth century onwards, formed the great American collections, such as Paul Durand-Ruel, Bernheim, Rosenberg, Gimpel and Paul Guillaume.
During the negotiations following the death of his predecessor Ambroise Vollard, he asserted himself as an arbitrator, and, with an absolute eye, determinedly bought back all the available prints from the Suite Vollard - one hundred opuses - with the success that we know today.
Provenance
Atelier de l’artiste
Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Collection Henri-Marie Petiet, Paris (acquied from the former)
Expositions
Picasso et la Grèce : Andros (Grèce), Museum of Modern Art of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, 26 juin 2004-26 septembre 2004.
La Suite Vollard (Picasso-Méditerranée) : Cannes (France), Centre d'art La Malmaison, 17 novembre 2017-29 avril 2018.
Catalogues
Catalogue raisonné:Bloch n°227
Baer n°441