Pablo Picasso - Au Bain (from La Suite Vollard) 1930

Au Bain (from La Suite Vollard) 1930

Artist: Pablo Picasso
Title: Au Bain (from La Suite Vollard)
Year: 1930
Medium: Etching on Montval laid paper
Plate Size: 312 × 220 mm (12 1/4 × 8 5/8 in)
Sheet Size: 444 × 362 mm (17 1/2 × 14 1/4 in)
Edition: 260
Signature: Signed in pencil
Printer: Lacourière, Paris
Publisher: Ambroise Vollard, 1939
Reference: Bloch 136; Baer 201
Type: Original etching — from La Suite Vollard

Description: 

Au Bain (1930) is an etching from La Suite Vollard — one of the most celebrated and historically significant print portfolios in the history of twentieth-century art, and one of the supreme achievements of Picasso's graphic practice. Comprising 100 etchings executed between 1930 and 1937 and published posthumously by Ambroise Vollard's estate in 1939, the Suite Vollard represents Picasso at the peak of his printmaking powers: technically virtuosic, formally inventive, and ranging across a universe of subjects — the sculptor's studio, the Minotaur, mythology, portraiture, and the erotic — that collectively constitute an autobiography of his inner life during one of the most creative periods of his career.

Au Bain — "At the Bath" — belongs to the earliest plates of the Suite, executed in 1930 and depicting the female nude in the timeless context of bathing: a subject that connects Picasso to the deepest traditions of Western figurative art, from the antique through Rembrandt, Degas, and Cézanne, while filtering that tradition through his own radical formal intelligence. The etching medium — in which Lacourière, Picasso's master printer of the period, realised the plates with extraordinary technical fidelity — gives the composition a linear clarity and a tonal delicacy that the intaglio process achieves at its finest.

Lacourière — the Paris printer who worked with Picasso on the most demanding and most beautiful of his intaglio prints — printed the Suite Vollard on Montval laid paper, a French handmade paper whose warm cream tone and characteristic laid lines provide the ideal substrate for the fine work of Picasso's etched line. The edition of 260 was published in 1939 by Vollard — the legendary Paris dealer and publisher who had been commissioning prints from Picasso since 1913 and whose death in a car accident in 1939 gave the Suite its character of a posthumous monument to one of the great art world partnerships of the century.

Referenced as Bloch 136 and Baer 201 in the two authoritative catalogues raisonnés of Picasso's prints, this impression is signed by the artist in pencil — one of the finest and most historically grounded works available from the entire Picasso graphic catalogue.

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FAQ

Is this an original Picasso etching?
Yes — an original etching on Montval laid paper, signed in pencil by the artist, from the edition of 260 printed by Lacourière and published by Ambroise Vollard in 1939.

What is La Suite Vollard?
La Suite Vollard is a portfolio of 100 etchings executed by Picasso between 1930 and 1937, published by Ambroise Vollard's estate in 1939. It is widely considered one of the supreme achievements of twentieth-century printmaking — a sustained engagement with mythology, the sculptor's studio, the Minotaur, portraiture, and the erotic that constitutes an autobiography of Picasso's inner life during one of his most creative decades.

Who is Ambroise Vollard?
Ambroise Vollard (1866–1939) was the most important art dealer and publisher in Paris in the first half of the twentieth century — the man who gave Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse their first major exhibitions, and who commissioned the print portfolios that bear his name. His death in a car accident in 1939 led to the posthumous publication of the Suite that bears his name.

Who printed this work?
Lacourière, Paris — Picasso's master printer for his most demanding and most beautiful intaglio works, whose technical precision and deep understanding of Picasso's intentions made him an irreplaceable collaborator in the realisation of the Suite Vollard.

Is this work referenced in the catalogue raisonné?
Yes — listed as Bloch 136 and Baer 201 in the two authoritative catalogues raisonnés of Picasso's prints.

What is Montval laid paper?
A French handmade laid paper — warm cream in tone, with characteristic laid lines visible against the light — associated with the finest traditions of French intaglio printing and used throughout the Suite Vollard as the standard support.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes — worldwide, with museum-grade flat packaging, full insurance, and shipment tracking.

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