Oeuvres sur Papier - Works on Paper - Jean-Luc Baroni & Marty de Cambiaire - 2022

Pablo Picasso
Malaga 1881 – Mougins 1973
30
Étude pour Lysistrata
Crayon <strong>sur</strong> papier bleu
267 x 181 mm (10 ½ x 7 1 /8 in.)
Provenance
Collection Marina Picasso, petite-fille de l’artiste ; Sotheby’s, New York, 13 novembre 2019, lot 14.
Ce dessin de Pablo Picasso, autrefois dans la
collection de sa petite-fille Marina, fait partie d’une
série d’études préparatoires à des illustrations d’une
comédie d’Aristophane, Lysistrata, pour une édition
commandée à l’artiste en 1934 par le fondateur
du Limited Edition Club, Georges Macy, qui
commandera d’ailleurs à Matisse l’année suivante
l’illustration d’Ulysse de James Joyce. Traduite et
adaptée par Gilbert Seldès, l’œuvre fut tirée à mille
cinq cents exemplaires et illustrée par six gravures
et trente-quatre illustrations imprimées d’après des
dessins de Picasso.
La comédie d’Aristophane, jouée pour la première
fois à Athènes en 411 avant Jésus-Christ, à l’occa-
1. P. Picasso, Le Serment des femmes, estampe
dans Lysistrata.
This drawing by Pablo Picasso, formerly in the
collection of his granddaughter Marina, forms part
of a series of preparatory studies for illustrations of
a comedy by Aristophanes, Lysistrata, for an edition
commissioned from Picasso in 1934 by the founder
of the Limited Edition Club, Georges Macy who the
following year also commissioned illustrations for
James Joyce’s Ulysses from Matisse. Translated and
adapted by Gilbert Seldès, Lysistrata was produced
in an edition of 1500 and illustrated by six prints
and 34 images printed after drawings by Picasso.
The comedy by Aristophanes, performed for the
first time in Athens in 411 B.C. for the Dionysia, is
a humoristic and licentious staging of a sex strike
organized by the women of the various Greek
cities against their husbands to force them to end
the Peloponnesian War. The figure in our drawing
shows the Athenian woman Lysistrata, “she who
defeated the armies”, as she organizes this rebellion
and manages to obtain as<strong>sur</strong>ance that the other
women will refuse sex to their husbands until they
obtain peace. She is shown when she is making her
oath, arm raised as a sign of her commitment. She
is the most important character of the play and this
key moment is illustrated twice in the book, by a
print (Fig. 1; p. 43) and by a printed reproduction
(Fig. 2; p. 73) that is more summary. To develop
these compositions, Picasso produced several
studies. At least two others exist of the same figure, 1
(Fig. 3) however they are less finished than ours,
which shows much greater confidence in the line
and ease with the composition, and several others
are known for different moments of the play. Most
of the preparatory studies for the illustrations are,
like ours, on blue paper and the same size. 2
There is also a composition study 3 (Fig. 4) on a sheet
of white paper that is larger (200 x 260 mm) and
shows, on the right, this same scene of the women
making their oath, and on the left, armed men
leaving for battle. The juxtaposition of the studies
144