Carton d'invitation à l'exposition de dessins et aquarelles par Pablo Picasso chez Paul Rosenberg du 20 octobre au 15 novembre 1919

Invitation card for the Picasso Drawings and Watercolors Exhibition held from October 20 to November 15, 1919, at Galerie Paul Rosenberg in Paris, 21 rue La Boétie. With a reproduction of a drawing by the artist.

Very fine condition, annotated in pencil with the number "40" to the upper left corner and a curved line to the right margin.

The present work was executed by Picasso first public showing with the dealer Paul Rosenberg held at his gallery in Paris. After a trip to London, he had settled in the South of France at the prestigious hôtel Continental in Saint-Raphaël with his new wife and Ballets Russes dancer Olga Kholokhova. He exhibited his production of 167 drawings and watercolours at this Rosenberg exhibition. It is one in a series of what have become known as guéridon still-lifes, now held in prestigious collections such as the National Gallery in Berlin, the Musée Picasso in Paris and the MoMA: the artist chose this leitmotiv as the illustration for this exhibition's invitation card. Iconic Cubist staples (a gueridon often found in Braque's paintings, coupled with a guitar and sheet music very present in Picasso's collages) are paired with a more classical rendition of the background where the window is framed by a theater stage-like curtain opening over a seaview through the wrought iron balcony. Picasso seamlessly blends Synthetic Cubism with the prevailing aesthetics of the ‘return to order’ to tradition and the classical after the trauma of the First World War reverberated across France and Europe. Rosenberg also played an important role in Picasso's neoclassical period, not only as his dealer who helped increase his success on the international market, but as the place where Picasso could nurture and discover new artistic influences with Rosenberg's exceptional collection of Impressionist art. 

Outstanding creation for a famous exhibition of Picasso's artworks, in a masterful combination of two seemingly disparate aesthetics. The motif of the open window symbolizes renewal and displays a hopeful perspective on the better times to come after the conflict that tore and reshaped the modern world.