Just a month after the Second World War, Pablo Picasso (1881- 1973) was in Paris working at the lithography workshop of Fernand Mourlot (1895-1988).
It was the beginning of a collaboration that would last almost three decades and produce more than 400 different graphic images and editions.
An example from this fruitful period of Picasso’s experimentation with lithography came up for sale on August 1 at Derby saleroom Bamfords (19.5% buyer’s premium). Figure Composée I was produced in an edition of 50 by Mourlot’s workshop in 1949 as part of a series of studies of women’s heads, inspired by his love affair with the French painter Françoise Gilot.