Pablo Picasso (1881 Málaga - 1973 Mougins) "Les Femmes d'Alger". Original title Colour lithograph/paper, 1964, signed in pencil and dedicated "pour minouche". Also inscribed "Picasso" and "HENRI DESCHAMPS LITH." in the stone. Printed by Mourlot, Paris. One of 1000 copies of the lithograph before the lettering, which was also produced with lettering as a magnificent poster in 1964 (edition of 1300) for the exhibition of Picasso paintings "L'heritage de Delacroix" at the Knoedler Gallery in Paris. The painting selected and reproduced by the Mourlot master Henri Deschamps is entitled "Les Femmes d'Alger" (Version A), dates from 1954 and is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. Picasso created a series of 15 paintings in 1954/55 in dialogue with the famous painting "Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement" by Eugène Delacroix (1834) in the Louvre. One reason for this was the death of his friend and rival in the art world Henri Matisse in 1954, about which Picasso joked: "When Matisse died, he left me his odalisques." Depiction approx. 39.5 cm x 47 cm. Frame. Lithograph in colours on paper, 1964. Hand-signed with dedication "pour minouche" in pencil. Further inscribed "Picasso" and "HENRI DESCHAMPS LITH." on the stone. One of an edition of 1000 without text printed by Mourlot Paris (there is also an edition 1300 with text as lithograph poster for an exhibition).