Diurnes – Decoupage Et Photographies – First Edition – 1962

Illustrators: Picasso, Pablo & Villers, André
Price: £7250
Publisher: Berggruen
Edition: First edition
Publication Date: 1962
Format: Original cloth. Slipcase
Condition: Fine

Description:

Published by Berggruen, France, 1962. First edition. Folio. Size: 32.5cm x 41.2cm. Text in French by Jacques Prevert. Number 195 from the edition of 1000. Includes 30 loose phototype and pochoir plates by Picasso and Villers each in an individually-titled paper sleeve in cloth-bound slipcase which is printed with an original lithograph by Picasso. Each print measures 29cm x 38cm and is numbered on the reverse. In 1953 Pablo Picasso went to live in the French city of Vallauris, near the Côte d’Azur, in order to experiment at its ceramic workshops. During his long stay he met the photographer André Villers. There began a close working relationship between the 72-year-old artist and the young 23-year-old photographer which would become a deep friendship. Picasso and Villers, fascinated by the richness of their place of residence, Provence, embarked on an intense creative process which would lead to the making of the suite ‘Diurnes’ (from the Latin ‘diurnus’, of the day) in 1962. It was published with texts by the poet Jacques Prévert. The portfolio, which brings together photographic and lithographic techniques, is one of the few works in which Picasso used photography as a means of expression. Through superimposing and applying découpages (paper cuts) of figures, Picasso recreated his mythical imaginary over the evocative black and white landscapes captured by Villers’ camera and their remarkable results are exhibited in this portfolio. The slipcase has a very minor rub to the cloth to the base of the spine but is otherwise is in fine, clean condition with the cloth being exceptionally bright and without the usual dustiness. Wraparound paper sleeve in fine condition. The plates are very bright and clean and in fine condition. Complete sets are now very scarce as so many have been broken up for their plates and this is by far the best copy that we have handled in nearly thirty years.

Pablo Picasso & Andre Villers: A Brief Account

The collaboration between Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) and André Villers (1930–2016) represents one of the most original artist–photographer partnerships of the twentieth century. Emerging in the artistic milieu of Vallauris in the 1950s, their relationship moved beyond documentation into genuine creative exchange. Villers did not merely photograph Picasso; he became a participant in experimental processes that fused photography, collage, printmaking, and graphic transformation.

Their work together culminated most notably in the book Diurnes (1962), but their association reflects a broader dialogue between painting, printmaking, and photographic image-making in Picasso’s late period.

Origins of the Relationship

Vallauris in the 1950s

After the Second World War, Picasso settled for extended periods in Vallauris, in the south of France. The town became a hub of ceramic and artistic activity. André Villers, a young photographer who had recovered from tuberculosis and turned to photography during convalescence, encountered Picasso in this environment.

Villers began by photographing Picasso and his circle. Picasso quickly recognised Villers’s sensitivity to form and light, and the relationship evolved into one of mutual experimentation rather than passive observation.

Villers as Photographer

Portraits of Picasso

Villers produced some of the most striking photographic portraits of Picasso’s later years. Unlike staged or reverential studio portraits, Villers’s images often show:

• Picasso at work
• Relaxed domestic moments
• Informal studio settings

The tone is intimate but unsentimental. Picasso appears vigorous, engaged, and fully conscious of the camera’s presence.

Collaborative Experimentation

Photographic transfers and transformations

The most innovative phase of their collaboration involved the transformation of Villers’s photographs into material for Picasso’s graphic experimentation. Techniques included:

• Photographic enlargements
• Cut-and-reassemble compositions
• Surface manipulation
• Integration with drawing or printed elements

Picasso used the photographic image not as an end, but as raw visual matter.

Diurnes (1962)

Structure of the project

Diurnes stands as the central document of their collaboration. In this project:

• Villers supplied photographs, often of textures or natural forms
• Picasso intervened through cutting, collage, and graphic reinterpretation
• The resulting images were reproduced in a carefully produced art volume

The images possess a hybrid quality—neither pure photograph nor conventional print—reflecting a deliberate blurring of media boundaries.

Conceptual significance

The collaboration in Diurnes demonstrates:

• Picasso’s continued interest in appropriation and transformation
• His willingness to work across generational lines
• A refusal to treat photography as subordinate to painting

Rather than competing with the photograph, Picasso used it as a stimulus for reinvention.

Artistic Dynamics

Equality and asymmetry

While Picasso was the dominant artistic figure, Villers was not merely a technician. He contributed:

• Compositional starting points
• Sensitivity to texture and abstraction
• Technical knowledge of photographic processes

The collaboration is best understood as dialogue rather than delegation.

Late-style experimentation

For Picasso, working with Villers formed part of a broader late-career pattern:

• Revisiting earlier themes
• Engaging with mechanical reproduction
• Challenging the boundaries of originality

The partnership shows Picasso open to new technologies without abandoning his own visual authority.

Broader Cultural Context

Photography and modern art

By the mid-twentieth century, photography had firmly entered the sphere of fine art. Picasso’s engagement with Villers reflects:

• Recognition of photography’s creative legitimacy
• Interest in reproducibility
• Exploration of image multiplication and variation

Their work anticipates later mixed-media and appropriation practices in contemporary art.

Legacy

Villers’s independent career

Although closely associated with Picasso, André Villers established his own reputation as:

• A photographer of artists
• An experimental image-maker
• A participant in the artistic life of the Côte d’Azur

His association with Picasso gave him visibility, but his work stands independently within post-war European photography.

Concluding assessment

The relationship between Pablo Picasso and André Villers was not incidental; it was a meaningful late-career collaboration that expanded Picasso’s engagement with mechanical image-making. Through portraiture, experimentation, and projects such as Diurnes, they created works that challenge rigid distinctions between photography and printmaking.

Their partnership demonstrates Picasso’s enduring restlessness and Villers’s quiet but significant creative agency. Together, they produced a body of work that remains a compelling example of mid-twentieth-century cross-media innovation.

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