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Half sheet original 1919 sheet music cover for Igor Stravinsky’s Ragtime, featuring artwork designed by Pablo Picasso.
Key Details of the Publication
• Composer: Igor Stravinsky (noted as Igor Strawinsky on the print).
• Artist: Pablo Picasso (his signature, Picasso, is visible in the lower right of the inner frame).
• Piece: Ragtime (originally composed in 1918 for eleven instruments, with the piano transcription released in this edition).
• Publisher: Éditions de La Sirène located at 12 Rue de La Boëtie in Paris.
Artistic & Historical Context
The illustration depicts two ragtime street musicians—one playing a stringed instrument resembling a banjo, and the other playing a violin. It is created using Picasso's famous continuous-line drawing technique, where the artist outlines figures seamlessly with minimal lifting of the pen.
Picasso and Stravinsky developed a close friendship beginning around 1917 in Italy, introduced by the Ballets Russes impresario Sergei Diaghilev. This cover art serves as an important relic of their early modernist collaborations, which also included the legendary 1920 ballet Pulcinella. |
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