A Vous De Juger (Picasso portraits of Stalin)
Paris: PAIX et LIBERTE, 167 Rue De Universite, Paris, 1953. Softcover. Folded sheet, printed in black and red ink. VG-, some ink or blood on rear sheet, a small amount of loss from printed border. Item #170788
Text is as follows: A vous de Juger le Parti Communiste a commande a Pablo Picasso le portait de Stalin conforme aux donnee du realisme socialiste. Ayant eu la chance de nous procurer quelques etudes qui paraissent pouvoir etre attribuees au Maitre, nous les soummettons au public pour qu'il se rende compte des tatonnesments de l'artiste et de ses efforts jusqu'a l'art Supreme. (roughly translates to: It is up to you to judge. The Communist Party has ordered Pablo Picasso to produce a portrait of Stalin according to the style of socialist realism. Having had the chance to obtain some studies which seem to be able to be attributed to the Master, we submit them to the public so that it becomes aware of the state of the artist and his efforts up to the Supreme art." No date is on this pamphlet, but surely quite rare. As found on the web under the search terms Stalin Picasso Liberte : This cartoon is a satire on the portrait of Stalin painted by Pablo Picasso. It was NOT actually painted or drawn by Picasso, but is related to his portrait of Stalin, completed for the tribute issue of a magazine further described by Joel Kotek as follows: "...On 12 March, at the request of its editor, Louis Aragon, Les Lettres françaises, the Communist cultural weekly published a tribute by Picasso to the great Stalin. The departed autocrat was portrayed in youthsome tones, fresh and rosy. Initially, Aragon was relieved. Picasso could have, but did not, portray Stalin as a hero, and as the heroic mode requires, as a nude on a cloud. Nevertheless, Picasso’s tribute was considered a scandal. Protests poured in, immediately and spontaneously. “a horrible drawing,” “an indecent caricature,” “appalling,” “ridiculous,” disrespectful,” “outrageous,” a hideous portrait,” were some of the reactions. Picasso and Aragon had committed a sacrilege by representing him other than as a reassuring elderly man, eternal father of his peoples, in short, in a way which did not correspond to the canons of socialist realism."
Price: $600.00