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Hi, so I purchased this signed and numbered 30/100 lithograph by Francoise Gilot titled “Gourmet Gala” These we’re produced in the early 1980s for black tie events to raise money for March of Dimes. There were 100 of the lithographs produced, numbered and signed by the artist and also 1000 posters were produced and put up to advertise the events (No internet of course at the time) that were not signed. So what’s interesting about this artist? She has 2 children by Pablo Picasso, they never married but she wrote a book about life with Picasso that is well known. So what I have found so far, there is a poster, not lithograph, on eBay currently for $750 that they did have the artist to sign. There is a Lithograph that sold in Poland that appears to have sold for approx $1300 US dollars. And I found another lithograph that was in a gallery online but had sold, they will not tell me what it sold for though. I have a eBay sellers account with Terapeak that allows me to look back 1 year but I do not see any in that time frame. I do not have worthpoint but when I google the artist and work it shows one on worthpoint. Could someone with w WP account please look up what that lithograph sold for? Thanks in advance!
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Here you go. Actually I found two. The higher one, signed and framed sold for $1,400, May 27, 2017 and seems to be an original litho print and say only 25 made.
The other signed one is the poster with the event text at the bottom and sold $495 in Oct. 13th 2018. Seems like you may have a winner there!
The info. on the original print:
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<div class=”description-body”><span class=”first-half”>Title: Black Tie Date: 1980 Creation place: United States Medium: Lithograph, proof ***Artist Name: Francoise Gilot Mistress to Pablo Picasso and the mother of two of his children (As stated in post title ONLY 25 made and they are so very much wanted that museums seem to house most copies) For example one A/P is located in The San Diego Museum Of Art just google it and take a look on their website and of course it is not for SALE it’s a “MUSEUM NOT A GALLERY”.Black Tie Gourmet Gala is a sure EVENT that will always be etched into history and this LITHOGRAPHED A/P is for a very committed collector of ARTS. **The lithograph is framed and glass covered and the Overall Condition is GREAT with no apparent STAINS a Truly lovely piece.A PHOTO of Ms Gilot and her husband Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine is also included it depicts the two of them holding up a freshly printed Poster of the (Gala).This leads us to believe she allowed him to actually assist her with the production of at least the Posters it is an actual PHOTO.Extra Information on this Lithograph such as measurements are as follows 25” x 18″ 1/2 (Framed) This is a once of 25 chance of a lifetime to own this very piece “Bless You All And Thanks For Stopping By Good Luck Bidding”.. *** Note This Lithograph Is In Great Condition But In A Temporary Slider Frame Meaning </span> <span class=”second-half”>All Four Sides Slide Apart Like A Puzzle The Right Side Slider Is Missing But With No Damage To The Lithograph.*** But i’m sure the lucky buyer of this Piece will surely have it framed to their own custom liking…**I ALSO MUST INCLUDE THE FACT THAT THE COLOR OF THE PAPER IS ORIGINAL THIS LITHOGRAPH WAS PRINTED ON YELLOW PAPER** You can rest assured that with years of handling and shipping knowledge this PIECE will be padded and placed in the proper box for the safest shipment possible.We also honor the true meaning of speedy shipping so we will handle and ship with in one business day thanks for stopping by please check out other items in our store… “We may be new to Ebay but we have been collecting fine arts for 45 years plus and have much to offer”</span> hide</div>
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<div>The second one is the poster</div>
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<div><span class=”first-half”>Description: Françoise Gilot 2 color lithograph poster, title Black Tie (1980) and signed in the lower center (please see photo). Done for the March of Dimes Gourmet Gala. The piece comes from the estate of Jack White, a television personality that was part of the event. The piece is approximately 23 1/8 inches high by 17 1/2 inches wide, it is framed and with frame it is approximately 24 7/8 inches high by 18 7/8 inches wide. Françoise Gilot was a painter, critic and bestselling author. In 1973 Gilot was appointed the Art Director of the Virginia Woolf Quarterly. She was also the lover and muse of Pablo Picasso from 1944 to 1953, as well as the mother of his children, Claude and Paloma. She later married the American vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk. The print appears to be very good condition. The frame is metal over wood, it has multiple scraps, scratches and dents (please see photos). Please see all photos as they are a major part of this item’s conditional description.</span></div>
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<div>Mike – MDC Galleries and Fine Art</div>
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This one? https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/picasso-francoise-gilot-signed-artist-1869633520
sold for $1400 in 2017, but note seller says his is an Artists Proof, which I believe are generally somewhat more valuable than a numbered litho.
The poster for the event brought $495 in 2018
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@ MyCottage and Blueridge1: I think the reference to the A/P [artist proof] was about the one in the museum.
This listing states in a couple of places that it is 24/25 [24th print out of an edition of 25].
As far as artist Proofs being more valuable. That depends. I am a Master Fine Arts Print Maker specializing in Serigraphy both Commercial and Fine Art. I have executed many limited editions for other artists without the printmaking skills to do the work and they hired me to do it for them, guiding them through the process, while still allowing them to create their own original images.
Where the value of the Artists Proof lies is in how many it takes to get the edition staged to the point of the artists acceptance and signing off of the edition by signing the Bon a’ Tirer [or what is called the Final Ready to go Proof.]
On small editions which all limited editions should be under 500 at the most, I have had to alter color, and make changes to the images for the artists dozens and dozens of times. It was not unusual for me to pull out and alter the ink color over and over again for artists being extremely picky.
So, in the case of a short run, say 75 or 100 prints and the artists keeps changing the image or color, we may pull 200 proofs, many of which get destroyed or thrown in the trash as we proceed through the changes. On a larger run if the we only had to create a few proofs with very few changes, then the ratio of prints to numbered final prints is much smaller. If any of those were saved, then yes they are rarer.
Here’s the catch on value, and usually only the printer in some cases would know this, how bad was the quality of those proofs that were nothing more than working trials as we marched through the creative process. We some my error in registration and alignment of color, were some pulled during a mechanical problem with my presses and equipment. Were they pulled on very cheap paper high in acid content and not the $3 to $5 per sheet acid free hand made and mold made paper we were saving for the original run.
Then we have the issue of signing. I only required the artist to sign off of proofs so I could keep track of there changes, especially color changes. Also I kept track of a picky artist who made dozens of changes that we did not quote them in the original pricing, thus we counted all those changes so we could bill them for excessive production and time costs. I have billed artists for excessive proofing as much as we charged them for the entire production run of the limited edition prints.
Lastly, in some cases I signed or initialed the prints. As the Master Printer I too can either initial a proof and I can also add my embossed “chop” mark to each print in the edition if I so negotiate that in the original contract. My contract many times would include a statement saying that all screens, mock-ups, proofs, ruby’s, stencils, plates would be destroyed at the end of the run. This aided in creating a clean paper trail, adding to the provenance and originality, and assuring future collectors that no re-strikes or re-runs of that edition could be done using the original materials, has does happen more than you would think. I know of two such companies who would by up old plates from estates and then re-ink them and re-create the original edition only with out the signature and sell them as unsigned, staged proofs.
So proof value would be a low quantity, signed or initialed by the artist or master printer, usually no title, sometimes a date or time to aid chronological tracking of the artist changes, done of the same paper as the edition was pulled on, chop marked if applicable.
But large amounts of proofs only marked artist proof or A/P and no qualifying chain of events, not worth anywhere near as much as an original print.
The Bon a’ Tirer is the “FINAL and Last Proof”. It is the one that the artist said by signing it, Is this is the one I am happy with, all changes have been made to my satisfaction and you are good to go.
Now my job and my assistants job is to then use that Bon a’ Tirer proof as the “Golden Standard” by which were are obligated to match on each and every print in the edition. We had to ink, apply pressure, watch humidity changes, wear on the equipment, alignment of colors expansion of the paper due to humidity, on every single print until we had completed the run.
It was a hell of a job on long runs which may have involved dozens of colors, and days and weeks and in some cases months, of going through the hand pulling of 500 “exact matching” prints to the Bon a Tirer. We had the artist come in periodically to check our progress and help supervise if they wanted too.
At the end of the run, we had a lounge area / signing room set up and we had the artist come in and do the signing. This is where we also used the proofs again as a quality check. The Bon a Tirer was set out in front of them and they had to inspect each print and compare to the BAT [we called for short]. If any of us found a bad print we pulled it from the run. We always printed more prints than the edition called for. If the edition was to be 500 we may have printed 10 to 15% overage. It was our job to keep that to a minimum. Overages came out of our profit.
We had long tables set up, the artist sat in the middle and we fed him the prints one at a time from the left and pulled and stacked them in order with acid free slip sheets in between on his right. At the end of the process, and we had accounted for and all prints had been signed we then proceeded to destroy all of the remaining proofs and print overages and complete all of the contract details and then did the final invoice for our services.
To this day I still have several leather portfolios of complimentary proofs, BAT’s and even signed prints that most artists gave me for me and my teams assistant on doing their art prints. Many of which we will soon be listing on our 3 selling platforms. I have had to wait to some of them died to be allowed to sell their work or get permission to sell from the artists themselves or some cases had to deal with their gallery agents and representatives, which a few actually bought all of my proofs for themselves.
So, now you have what Paul Harvey used to call “The Rest of The Story” and the story of why proofs are created, how they are created and why they may or may not have value. And lastly of course the reputation and market value of the artists themselves.
I hope this was informative and guess what, you didn’t have to sit through one of my Art Classes just read one of my, as Jay calls it, “Wall of Text”. He hates it when I do this. LOL J
MDC Concepts, Inc in Atlanta
the team Michael, Susan, Lisa, Christie, Kim, Karen
MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Collins Creek Collections
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Thank you all! I sincerely appreciate all the research and information shared here. It was a very unique piece to find and I feel it was a good investment at $4. Hopefully it will let me share some photos of the piece in question. Thank you all again!
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Interesting follow up notes:
I see that the color of the paper of the one you show just now is an “onion skin” texture and the original one on Worthpoint and also mentioned in the description was on yellow paper and it was even mentioned as being on a yellow paper.
Also the original signed one with the high price was the 24th print of only 30 in the edition. The one you have is numbered 30/100.
Do some deeper research. You may have a re-strike / re-run. Even if signed by the original artist then why two different runs. a 30 pc. run and a 100 piece run. OR is a re-run or a high rez copy and the number and signature is forged??? Next what is the newer ones substrate? What is that paper and is it a run of the mill commercial grade paper high in acid content.
Is it a full 4 sided “deckle edged paper” or a straight cut on a guillotine cutter or a factory-mill straight sided. To find this out take the frame apart if sectional or have a framer open it from the back. Hold the paper up to a lighted window and look for the watermark. That would tell you more of the puzzle.
At this point I now have questions I would want to find out before pricing and going to market with it. This print and the Worthpoint print are not part of the same run. So why and how did this piece get produced and by whom.
Sorry to jump in with late negative comments but I just now saw the actual images you posted of what you have.
Sleuthing time is in order.
Mike – MDCGFA
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