Printed Originals presents
Pablo Picasso Original posters · 1959–2020
From the Mourlot press to the Riviera.
5 posters printed in his lifetime. 24 made after 8 April 1973. Every one dates itself, if you know where to look.
II · At the Mourlot press
Paris, 1945. A stone, a printer, Picasso.
From October 1945 Picasso worked in lithography at the Mourlot studio in Paris. Its master printer was Henri Deschamps. Many exhibition posters were redrawn on the stone by Deschamps, under Picasso’s eye.
Drawn on the stone, printed on every copy. A signature drawn into the image prints with it, in the same ink, on every poster in the run. That is a plate signature. On a lifetime poster it shows he approved the image. It is not a hand signature.
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Marseille 1959
Plate-signed
The mark: Picasso, underlined, drawn into the corner of the picture.
Musée Cantini, 11 May – 31 July. Deschamps put it on the stone under Picasso’s supervision, 1,000 copies. The picture is a still life of April 1942.
Available · from £680.00 · View this poster → -
Cannes 1961
Plate-signed
The mark: Picasso, in the same blue as the title, below the picture.
Printed at Mourlot for the French government tourist office. The same design was also issued as “Côte d’Azur”. You met it at the top of the page.
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Vallauris 1969
Plate-signed
The mark: Picasso, then 6.4.69., then I: signature, date and numeral, all printed.
Galerie de la Colombe, in the potters’ village where he lived from 1948. A painting, reproduced with everything he wrote on it.
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Dakar 1972
Plate-signed
The mark: 18.12.70. I and 19., with a small Picasso beneath, all in the plate.
Musée Dynamique, 6 April – 6 May. A coloured-pencil drawing of December 1970. 1,000 posters, plus 100 signed and numbered for the museum to sell. Ours is from the unsigned run.
Available · from £940.00 · View this poster →
Four posters. Four printed signatures. Not one signed by hand.
Signed copies did exist
Small signed runs were made. Dakar had 100 signed and numbered copies, given to the museum to sell. A Galerie Louise Leiris poster of 1960 is recorded signed in pencil below the image. We checked the margins of all our lifetime posters. None is signed by hand.
III · 8 April 1973
One day splits the wall in two.
Picasso died at Mougins on 8 April 1973. Six weeks later the Avignon festival opened at the Palais des Papes: 201 paintings, chosen by him. Deschamps drew the poster after The Young Painter, 1972. It was printed in 1973, the year he died, so it is the last poster on his side of the line.
Everything after that is licensed by his heirs, the Succession Picasso. Sort the wall and see the line.
One wall, in date order. The thin red line is 8 April 1973.
5 posters, 1959–1973. Mourlot, the Riviera, and Avignon in the year he died.
24 posters, 1974–2020. All of them belong to the museums and his heirs.
Printed in his lifetime 5
- 1959 · Marseille
- 1961 · Cannes
- 1969 · Vallauris
- 1972 · Dakar
- 1973 · Avignon
After 8 April 1973 24
- 1974 · Toronto
- 1976 · Paris
- 1979 · Grand Palais
- 1980 · Paris
- 1981 · Saint-Paul
- 1981 · Frankfurt
- 1981 · La Chaise-Dieu
- 1982 · Paris
- 1990 · Grand Palais
- 2001 · Musée Picasso
- 2001 · Paris
- 2010 · London
- 2011 · New York
- 2011 · Louisiana
- 2014 · Paris
- 2018 · Louisiana
- 2020 · London
- Undated · Tate
- Undated · Pompidou
- Undated · Pompidou
- Undated · Musée Picasso
- Undated · Musée Picasso
- Undated · Emden
- Undated · Los Angeles
Why Avignon sits before the line
Avignon 1973 is the edge case. Picasso chose the paintings, which date from 1970 to 1972. The poster carries “Henri Deschamps lith” and “© Mourlot”, and no signature of his. It was printed in 1973, the year he died, so we count it with his lifetime posters, as an unsigned original. The show itself opened on 23 May, six weeks after his death. Czwiklitzer’s catalogue of his posters stops in February 1973, so it has no number there.
IV · Museums take over
The estate becomes a museum.
His heirs paid French inheritance tax partly in works of art. The payment is called a dation. The works went on show, then into a house in the Marais. The posters followed.
- 1979
The Grand Palais shows the works received in lieu of tax, 12 October 1979 – 7 January 1980.
- 1985
The Hôtel Salé opens as the Musée national Picasso, in October.
- 1987
Weeping Woman, 1937, enters the Tate.
- 1990
A second Dation Picasso at the Grand Palais.
- 2001
Œdipe Roi: Picasso and the theatre, at the Musée Picasso.
- 2014
The museum reopens on 25 October, after five years of work.
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Grand Palais, Paris
1979–80
Œuvres reçues en paiement des droits de succession. A child in a harlequin suit, on a green chair.
After Picasso · © Succession Picasso
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Musée Picasso, Paris
2014
Ouverture. The name in grey capitals, and a bull’s head made from a saddle and handlebars.
After Picasso · © Succession Picasso
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Musée national Picasso
2001
Œdipe Roi: Picasso et le théâtre, 14 March – 4 June. A white mask on black.
After Picasso · © Succession Picasso
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The Tate Gallery, London
Undated
Weeping Woman, 1937. “Picasso 37” is the painting’s own signature.
After Picasso · © Succession Picasso
Available · from £380.00 · View this poster →
After 1973, the signature you see belongs to the painting.
Who owns the image
The Succession Picasso holds the rights in his work, managed by Picasso Administration in Paris. In Britain the credit usually reads © Succession Picasso/DACS, London. A poster carrying that line is an original poster for its exhibition. It is not an original Picasso print.
V · Up close · Cannes A.M., 1961
A window, two birds, one blue signature.
VI · Signatures
Printed, painted, rarely signed.
Picasso rarely signed posters by hand. On his lifetime posters the signature, often with a date, is drawn into the stone and printed on every copy. After April 1973, any signature you see belongs to the artwork being reproduced.
Hand-signed
Signed by Picasso in pencil or crayon on that copy, usually below the image. Some runs had signed copies: 100 for Dakar in 1972. None in our archive.
Plate-signed
His signature or date drawn into the stone and printed with the design. On a lifetime Mourlot poster it shows he approved the image. It is not a hand signature.
On this poster: Picasso, underlined, in the same blue as the Cannes lettering, printed on every copy. Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record →
Show all 4 in the archive ↓
After Picasso
Made after his death, or reproducing a work without his involvement. A signature in the picture is the painting’s own. Such posters are licensed through the Succession Picasso.
On this poster: “Picasso 37” belongs to the 1937 painting reproduced here, not to the poster. Available · from £380.00 · View this poster →
Show all 24 in the archive ↓VIII · Collecting
Read the date. Then the foot.
Three checks date any Picasso poster. The exhibition date. The printer’s line. The rights line.
Hand-signed, plate-signed and after: what do the terms mean?
Hand-signed means Picasso signed that copy himself in pencil or crayon. Plate-signed means his signature was drawn into the printing stone, so every copy carries it. After means the poster reproduces his work without a signature of his own on it, usually after his death. A signature visible inside a reproduced painting belongs to the painting.
How can I tell whether a Picasso poster was printed in his lifetime?
Check the printed exhibition date: Picasso died on 8 April 1973, so anything later is posthumous. Look for the printer: lifetime posters often read Mourlot, sometimes with "Henri Deschamps lith." in the image. A "© Succession Picasso" credit means an estate licence, so after 1973. Avignon 1973 was printed in the year he died, so we count it as a lifetime poster.
What does "© Succession Picasso" mean?
The Succession Picasso holds the rights in his work, managed by Picasso Administration in Paris. In Britain the credit often reads © Succession Picasso/DACS, London. It tells you the image was licensed after his death. The poster is still an original poster for that exhibition; it is not an original Picasso print.
Did Picasso make linocut posters?
Yes. From 1951 he made the Vallauris exhibition posters as linocuts with the local printer Hidalgo Arnéra. Earlier Vallauris posters were lithographs. None of our current Picasso posters is an Arnéra linocut; ours are lithographs and later museum posters.
Can I see the marks on a poster before I buy?
Yes. Ask us for detailed photographs of any poster. We can photograph the signature, the printer’s line and the margins so you can check them yourself.
Condition and framing
We grade condition in six steps and describe every mark (condition grading). Framing is optional, and all our framing is conservation framing (framing original posters).