Pablo Picasso Salinas Biography
(Picasso) Laurent Marcel Salinas (1913 - 2010) The famous lithographer and chromist Marcel Salinas collaborated with Picasso on the "Imaginary Portraits" series from 1969 to 1972, recreating the lithographs on hand-drawn lithographic plates after Picasso's death in 1973. Born in 1913 in Alexandria, Egypt, Salinas abandoned the law to become a struggling young painter. So in 1955 he took a job in a Paris print shop and soon became a master painter as his fame as a typographer and lithographer grew. He worked with major publishers and artists, such as Rene Magritte and Max Ernst, but his seminal collaboration was with Picasso. Picasso, in addition to his genius as a painter, created a new standard for excellence in lithography, and part of the credit is due to his collaboration with Salinas. Picasso heard about Salinas' work when he was looking for new interpretations, rather than simple copies, of his "Imaginary Portraits" series of paintings. Between 1969 and 1972 Picasso and Salinas created new versions of the "Imaginary Portraits" series, 29 works in total. Although Picasso was a solo genius, his collaboration with Salinas was one of the most successful collaborations in Picasso's life. In late 2006 the entire collection of 29 Imaginary Portraits will be on display at the Arkansas Arts Center, to be loaned by the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art.
