Picasso’s Corkscrew

Giclee Print on Mounted Canvas
Edition of 300 S/N
Image: 14″ x 11″
$150

I had been thinking about a companion painting for “A Great Sauterne” for awhile now and like so many paintings, this one evolved from just a small idea. I was trying to come up with at least two more pieces for the same “Erotica” show that I painted “Lady Godiva” for.  Once again, I just wanted to have some fun with it.

I have always liked Picasso’s engravings.  In fact, I have a book of Picasso’s Erotic Gravures that a crusty old Marine Corps Sergeant Major had confiscated and told me to get rid of back in 1970. I “got rid of it” to my own library, which now includes a large number of art books of all kinds.  (Sorry, Sergeant Major Campo; I hope you’re not reading this).  I guess some of the engravings are a bit risqué, but most of them are just Picasso having fun with his incredible talent and energy. In the engraving that I used in this painting we can see Picasso himself, playing the Voyeur in the lower right corner.

I also have always liked the “Homage to Picasso” label on the 1973 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, even though serious wine connoisseurs poured the wine out and just saved the bottle or the label.  It was one of Mouton-Rothschild’s worst vintages ever, but the bottle is a collector’s item.

The corkscrew was made in Germany by Steinfeld & Reimer (patented in 1894) and was considered to be quite racy way back when. Placed together in a classic “trompe l’oeil” set-up, the three elements made a nice juxtaposition.  The wine label just happens to cover the more “erotic” parts of the engraving.  It was fun to paint, and it has gotten great response, so I have printed it as a limited edition Giclee.