A linocut by Pablo Picasso titled Buste de Femme d'Apres Cranach les June will feature in an auction at Christie's London on September 17.
The piece, numbered 15 of an edition of 50, is a reworking of Cranach the Younger's Portrait of a Woman (1564) in Picasso's idiosyncratic style. It is estimated at £250,000-350,000 ($414,250-579,950).
 Picasso worked extensively with linocut |
Picasso used linocut extensively, with the present example being a particularly fine impression.
Christie's comments that after first cutting a preparatory version that remained true to Cranach's work the effect was "somewhat laboured".
"When Picasso revisited the subject again the following day, he abandoned this creative hindrance, this time cutting the subject freely and adapting Cranach's composition in a much more spontaneous way.
"The result is a tour de force of printmaking: with fluid cuts of the linocut gouge and the overprinting of bright, flat colour from five separate blocks".
Another Picasso linocut, titled Le Pique, is to auction with a $60,000 estimate at Swann Auction Galleries on September 23-24.
We have this incredible postcard featuring Picasso's signature.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Akt mit Schwarzem Hut (1911-1912) is valued at £200,000-300,000 ($331,400-497,100).
The piece depicts the artist's girlfriend and took around a year to complete, during which time Kirchner moved from Dresden to Berlin.
The work is among the most recognisable from the history of German expressionism.
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