Original artwork by Pablo Picasso that was later printed in the 1960 photography book Poesie der Photographie by Lucien Clergue, accomplished in multi-colored felt tip on an off-white 9.25 x 12.5 sheet, which is signed in the lower right corner, “Picasso, 29. 1. 59.” The sketch features a double portrait of Clergue, an amusing positive-meets-negative, profile-meets-silhoutte drawing of the photographer, whose bespectacled face is shown blending into his shadowed kneeling form, a posture he often took when photographing bullfights behind the barricades of Arles or Nimes. In large bold lettering, Picasso adds the names of the book and the publisher, “Lucien Clergue, Poesie Photographie” and “DuMont Schauberg.” In fine condition. Accompanied by a photo of the artwork that has been signed and certified by Picasso’s son, Claude Ruiz Picasso, dated January 7, 2020, and a German edition of Clergue's book, which features the offered artwork opposite the title page.
Clergue on his first encounter with Picasso: ‘It was in 1953 – I was 19 years old – when I made my first photographs of Picasso. I was watching a bullfight in the Arles Arena, and I discovered Picasso when a matador dedicated his bull’s death to him. I ran quickly to the exit of the grandstand to photograph him…Thus began our friendship.’
Lucien Clergue's friendship with Pablo Picasso lasted for nearly 20 years. He was often received at his villa, Villa La Californie, in Cannes, and at Notre-Dame-de-Vie in Mougins, where he made his last portrait of the artist in 1971, two years before his death. Picasso, enthusiastic about Clergue’s images of dead animals and the traveling entertainers, namely the ‘Saltimbanques,’ considered him to be a greater photographer than Henri Cartier Bresson, and complimented him by saying: ‘Clergue’s photographs are the good Lord’s sketch books!’
Picasso’s generosity to Clergue and his admiration for the work of the budding photographer resulted in many collaborations, notably Picasso’s illustration for the cover of the photobook ‘Corps mémorable’ in 1957, where Clergue’s images accompanied Paul Eluard’s poems; the poster for Clergue’s first exhibition in Cologne in 1958; and then for ‘Poesie der Photographie,’ for which Picasso provided this offered sketch, as well as drawings used for the book's front and back covers.
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