Collection of Prints and Drawings

Permanent Exhibition of French 19th and 20th Century Art
Veletržní Palace - 3rd Floor

November 21, 2008 - March 1, 2009

The exhibition is held under the auspices of His Excellency Arturo Laclaustra, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain in the Czech Republic.
National Gallery in Prague would like to thank for cooperation on the present exhibition to the Prague Castle Administration and to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in the Czech Republic.

Exhibition curator: Olga Uhrová
Consulting scholar: Jana Wittlichová

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Pablo Picasso's (1881-1973) collection of prints titled Les Saltimbanques and created in the years 1904-1905 is one of the remarkable works by the artist housed in the Collection of Prints and Drawings of the National Gallery in Prague. Most of these works were created by Picasso in his Blue and Rose Periods, when themes of solitude, of desolation and pictures of people from the margins of society gave way to somewhat more optimistic subject matter - that of clowns, harlequins and columbines from the Circus Medrano, a favorite haunt of Paul Picasso and his friends.

It was then that Picasso created his first etchings and drypoints for his album of Les Saltimbanques, and when he was also initiated into the intaglio technique by its true masters, Auguste Dalatre and his son Eugène.

Already in his second etching, that of The Frugal Repast, Picasso demonstrated his ability to exploit the new opportunities afforded him by the intaglio technique. The collection was printed in rather a small edition, and shown by Clovis Sagot in his gallery in Paris. In 1910, the plates of Les Saltimbanques were purchased by gallery owner Ambroise Vollard who had them reinforced with steel; and in 1913 they were printed by Louis Fort. It was this charming set that was purchased by the Czechoslovak State for its Collection of French 19th and 20th Century Art in 1923.

Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) achieved fame as a Paris-based gallery owner and art dealer. He was present at seminal stages of the evolution of modern art from Impressionism to Cubism. It is with Vollard's name that Picasso's first Paris exhibition in 1901 is linked, as well as some other activities in later years.

One of the first to buy several important works by Picasso from Vollard, as early as 1911, was the Czech collector, art historian and director of the Picture Gallery of the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts, Dr. Vincenc Kramář (1877-1960) - these works include for instance Picasso's famous 1907 Self-Portrait.

In subsequent years, Picasso revisited themes from the Italian commedia dell' arte, with Harlequin being one of its principal characters. A figure with whom the artist frequently identified, Picasso rendered Harlequin also in a series of stenciled color gouaches (Pierrot and Harlequin, 1920). He also liked dressing his young son Paul as Harlequin, creating several charming pictures as well as color prints, such as for instance the 1926 Child Harlequin (Prague Castle Collections), or the picture Paolo as Harlequin, housed at the Musée Picasso in Paris.
After "Les Saltimbanques", the National Gallery will present Part 2 of the exhibition of Picasso's prints and drawings (1906 - 1968), from the Gallery of D. H. Kahnweiler, now housed at the National Gallery in Prague. This follow-up exhibition will take place between March 10 - May 31, 2009.

Olga Uhrová

The exhibition Pablo Picasso: Prints 1904-1905 from the Gallery of Ambroise Vollard, Paris (part one) is accompanied by a catalogue brought out by the National Gallery in Prague, with texts by Olga Uhrová. The catalogue featuring fifty illustrations is in Czech and English.

National Gallery in Prague - Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art
French 19th and 20th Century Art, 3rd floor, Veletržní Palace
Dukelských hrdinů 47, Praha 7

The exhibition ticket is also valid for the entire Exhibition of 20th and 21st Century Art at the Veletržní Palace. (including the Collection of French 19th and 20th Century Art on the 3rd floor).

Admission Fee to the exhibition is part of the admission fee to the permanent collection
Basic: 160,- Kč
Reduced: 80,- Kč
Family ticket: 200,- Kč
ADMISSION FEE IS REDUCED FROM 4 PM ONWARDS.

Open daily except Mondays, 10 am - 6 pm

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Press contact: Petra Jungwirthová, spokesperson of the National Gallery in Prague,
mobile: 606 166 513, e-mail: jungwirthova@ngprague.cz