• Chris Kendall
    Chris Kendall

    So, I woke early, made my way to St Pancras for the Eurostar and just a couple of hours later emerged from the arches of the Gare du Nord into a blistering hot Paris. After an obligatory café au lait and croissant, I wandered down to the Marais and its galleries for lunch and a mooch. I was in Paris to personally collect the works you see below. I’d not had the opportunity to inspect the prints before buying them, but I was assured that they could be packed and transported by hand quite easily. Nine times out of ten the works I uncover will arrive by courier a couple of weeks after I’ve secured them but this time I was particularly keen to get them back home and on display. All of these works were from the archive of one of the greatest printers of all time - Aldo Crommelynck - and had such excellent provenance that I couldn’t wait to see them. This is where the day unravelled.

     

    When I arrived to collect the works, it became immediately apparent that we had a problem. Each work was and is in immaculate condition, way beyond expectations. The Picassos for example are not only significantly larger than I’d realised but in (and I never use these words) “mint condition”, as a result of never being hung, framed or shown in any way. The prints were bright and flat and the Le Corbusiers so beautifully dedicated to Crommelynck that it was clear right away I wasn’t bringing these back on the train.

     

    I don’t think it could ever be said that a trip to Paris was time wasted but as I boarded the train empty-handed, I must admit to feeling a little foolish. Despite the tribulations I couldn’t be more delighted to share these with you. Each is a supreme example of its type, and I can absolutely say that we are unlikely to ever find better examples.

  • Aldo Crommelynck: A Short Biography

    Aldo Crommelynck was the most important intaglio printer of the second half of the 20th century. In the early 1950s, he and his brothers made a name for themselves as engravers of the highest quality. Aldo’s skills caught the eye of Picasso; he would go on to print a staggering 45% of the artist’s overall output of etchings. Following Picasso’s death in 1973, Aldo moved back to Paris, where he was sought out by artists such as Richard Hamilton, David Hockney and Jim Dine. In 1985, Aldo moved to the United States and opened a workshop in New York, working with George Condo, Jean Michel-Basquiat and Yoko Ono, among many others. He was awarded the Grand Prix National des Métiers d'Art in 1989.

  • Browse the collection

    Step into the legacy of 20th century printmaking with a rare offering of etchings by Picasso, Le Corbusier, and Miró, each bearing the indelible mark of Aldo Crommelynck, the master printer who helped shape their visions in ink.
  • Pablo Picasso, Famille de saltimbanques, c1950

    Pablo Picasso

    Famille de saltimbanques, c1950

    Signed and numbered in pencil, signed a second time in red crayon above image

    Etching on Chine collé on Japon nacré paper

    Edition of 300

    Sheet: 76.2 x 55.8 cm

     

    £13,950

     

    Crommelynck’s exceptional talent as an engraver had caught Picasso’s eye in 1949, and he swiftly became the artist’s preferred printer. In 1950 he entrusted Aldo with an image featuring one of his most important early subjects, that of the saltimbanques (circus acrobats). The result was this exquisite soft-ground etching, in which the incredible poignancy of Picasso’s line takes centre stage. Picasso signed it in pencil at the bottom left, and again above the image in red crayon - the only example of a double signing that we’ve ever come across. A defining early image for both men, this work has never previously been framed, and comes to us in original condition from Crommelynck’s own archive. Please note, as is often the case with etchings the image above does not do this work justice.  It is both larger and brighter than it appears here.

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  • Pablo Picasso, Le Verre d'absinthe, 1972

    Pablo Picasso

    Le Verre d'absinthe, 1972

    Signed and numbered in pencil

    Aquatint in colours on Arches paper

    Sheet: 63.5 x 83.5 cm

    Edition of 300

     

    £13,950

     

    Picasso had initially been won over by Aldo’s remarkable ability to convey the intensity of the painted surface in printed form. More than twenty years after they first met, and only months before his death, Picasso turned to Crommelynck to work the same magic in this image, and the result is spectacular. The texture and radiance of this aquatint are astonishing, and it is rightly regarded as one of the jewels of 20th century printmaking. An exceptional image from the personal archive of the men who made it, this piece is as close to a unicorn as you are ever likely to find in the art world. Please note, this work is significantly larger than some editions and the colours are exceptional.

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  • Le Corbusier

    Four Signed and Dedicated Editions

    In addition to his work as an architect, Le Corbusier was also an avid printmaker. Always in search of artistic perfection, it was only natural that he should seek out Crommelynck, the finest intaglio printer the world had to offer. Le Corbusier had himself been educated as an engraver at the art school of La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. He wrote that “…tapestries, drawings, paintings, sculptures, books, houses and town plans are, as far as I am personally concerned, one and a same manifesto of an inspiring harmony right in the middle of a new industrialised society.” 

     

    Scroll through the editions below, and click the images for full artwork descriptions. 

  • Le Corbusier, Autrement que sur terre, 1963 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Le Corbusier, Les mains, Opus 2, 1930-48 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Le Corbusier, Murale, Opus 5, 1948 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Le Corbusier, Nature morte, Opus 4, 1930-47 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Le Corbusier, Autrement que sur terre, 1963
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  • Signed and inscribed 'H. C.' in pencil

    Etching and aquatint in colours on wove paper

    Sheet: 56 x 65 cm

    Edition of 300 plus proofs

     

    £5,950

     

    Miró made a beeline for Crommelynck’s Parisian studio in 1957, swiftly producing a superb suite of etchings to illustrate a poem by René Crevel. It was to be the first of many prints they would produce together, known for their warmth, wit and visual delight. Crommelynck’s work with Miró is characterised by an extraordinary attention to texture, colour and space; this glorious aquatint is a prime example. Produced when Crommelynck was 26 and Miró was 65, it exudes a youthful joy and vigour, demonstrating not only the close working relationship between the two men, but also the ability of Miró’s work to speak across time and generations.

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