“SUITE DE LOS SALTIMBANQUIS”
In 1913, the art dealer and art gallery director Ambroise Vollard decided to
edit almost etchings and drypoints done by Picasso between 1904 and 1906,
gathering them in the first series of graphic art done by the artist, generally known as
Suite de los Saltimbanquis (Saltimbanques Suite). They are fifteen proofs steel-faced
and printed by Fort, with a total print run of 27 to 29 copies printed on Japanese laid
paper and 250 on Van Gelder vellum. The Pablo Ruiz Picasso Foundation has among
its art collection a copy of this series thanks to the agreement in place with the
Malaga Foundation. This copy was delivered on March 15th, 2005.
After his first attempt in 1899 (El zurdo), these are the first engravings that
Picasso seriously undertook, in part due to his friend, Canals. At the same time, he
was able to have access to copies of a limited number of samples with the help of
Eugène Delâtre, a friend of the Catalan artists who lived in Paris and was considered
to be the best engraver of that time.
The Suite unites Picasso’s graphic production before cubism, highlighting his
evolution from the blue period to the pink period and pinpointing the beginning of
his first classical work.
The End of the blue period (1904-1905)
Comida frugal (Frugal Meal), (September 1904) and Los pobres (The Poor Ones),
(winter 1904-1905), present the latest technique employed by Picasso in the blue
period and is characterized by the characters´ extreme mannerisms. The role of
French symbolism and German expressionism, along with his personal experience,
brought him to dramatically reflect the feelings of sadness, pain, desolation and
poverty – using the symbolic colour blue to reflect this state of mind.
Three busts “in transition” (early 1905)
Cabeza de mujer (Woman’s head) and Cabeza de mujer de perfil (Profile of a woman’s
head) reflect a new typology for portraits of women with marked expressive
distortions which arose in mid 1904, midway between the blue and the pink period.
They probably can be traced back to Madeleine, one of Picasso’s lovers, but the
features are also repeated in other portraits of real models such as Alice Princet and
Margot. Busto de hombre (Bust of a man) is really a masculine version, or
androgynous, of the feminine busts. The dramatic tension of all that was “blue” fades
softly into the new serenity of the pink period.
The Saltimbanquis Series (Spring 1905)
Picasso expressed that the origin of the Saltimbanquis is a vision he had when
he saw an acrobatic troupe in the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris perhaps in the
summer of 1904 (around July 14th, a national holiday in France when travelling fairs
would arrive in the city). On the other hand, since December of the same year, the
painter and his friends, the Apollinaire poets, Max Jacob and André Salmon, began to
regularly attend the Medrano Circus located at the foot of Montmartre. The creative
dialogue between Apollinaire and Picasso was reflected in their common interest for
the circus performers with whom they identified due to their status as marginal
street vagrants. Towards the end of 1904, Picasso began an ambitious project whose
various studies and sketches led up to the large canvas Familia de saltimbanquis
(Saltimbanquis Family) in October 1905. The pink period flourished from this point
forward with daily scenes of circus life speckled with moving images of humanity.
The four etchings from the spring of 1905 are what we wish to focus on. Of
particular mention are Los saltimbanquis, originating from the first gouache version
of the final product, and Saltimbanqui en reposo (Saltimbanqui at rest) which portrays
a real model, a clown by the name of José or Tío Pepe who became a constant figure
in the iconography of the pink period.
The Harlequin´s Family (Spring 1905)
Within the “Los Saltimbanquis” series, the Harlequin family scenes make up a
separate chapter. The images of couples with children had already been key figures
throughout the blue period, however, this theme returned and was adapted and
expressed in a new manner during the pink period. This seems to be due to the fact
that Picasso was about to have a child with Madeleine towards the end of 1904
causing the onset of a sort of fantasy which was expressed in various ways. Picasso
included Harlequin among the characters of the Saltimbanquis troupe, although he
was actually part of the commedia dell’arte, often encountered in costume parties or
during carnivals and that already had been the object of symbolist literature that
Picasso quite enjoyed. He might have had an influence on him the opera entitled
“Los Payasos” (The Clowns) by Leoncavallo, which was a great success of the period
and fascinated Max Jacob and at whose representation might have been invited in
1905. Picasso fully identified himself with the Harlequin and these family images
behind the scenes of the circus recaptured that imaginary aspect of his biography
mentioned before.
Salomé (1905)
The origins of Salomé can possibly be traced to one of Apollinaire’s poems of
the same name and year. But its setting comes from Bufón y acróbatas (Clown and
acrobats), one of the prior studies for Familia de saltimbanquis (Saltimbanquis
Family). The character of the obese clown appears transformed into Herod, Salomé’s
dance reminds us of the movements of the acrobats and the the horsewomen from
the circus and Herodias repeats the same gestures of the “Mallorquina” in Familia de
saltimbanquis. La danza (The Dance) seems to be a grotesque parody of Salomé
related to many informal and humorous sketches created by Picasso during this
period.
El abrevadero (early 1906)
In the summer of 1905, Picasso travelled to Holland and, perhaps being
slightly disoriented from the rapid change of scenery, began a process of emotionally
distancing himself from his work, putting space between him and the symbolism of
romantic connotations. El abrevadero (The Watering Hole) is related to the studies
done with circus horsemen and horses, however, Picasso chose to strip the
characters of all clothing and to place them in an rustic setting directly inspired by
the Jinetes en la playa (Horsemen on the Beach) (1902) by Gauguin, however
translated in a Mediterranean environment. There were various sketches in
preparation for a large project to compete with the likes of Matisse and the Fauves
however the final version never materialized. The new style had its roots in Puvis de
Chavannes and the ancient Greek sculptures. In the next few months, the ancient
ephebes replaced the Harlequins and Saltimbanquis in a progressive farewell to the
pink period. It is here that a transition commenced which, only a few years later,
would lead to the primitivism found in Las Señoritas de Avignon (The Young Girls of
Avignon).
Documentation Center of Picasso Foundation and Birthplace Museum. Translated by
Meredith Hand. Revised by Laura Stratone.