Despite wartime privations, Picasso began creating lithographs in earnest in 1945. Although their subjects varied, their star was Françoise Gilot, whom he had met two years before. In these early lithographs of his new muse, he famously applied a very spare line, but one nonetheless laden with greatly evocative emotion. These eight portraits of Françoise, which Picasso created on the same day, are among his finest lithographs.

Though more than two decades past the peak of his neoclassical period, these elegant portraits of Françoise have their roots firmly planted in that Picassian tradition. They however represent a loosening of that style, yet a different path he went down in his further elaboration of classicism, much as the 1960s saw an even further loosening of his style in his endless self-reference to his earlier periods.

It is widely held that the series of line drawings and prints of Françoise to which this exemplar belongs were inspired by Matisse.  My feeling is that anyone looking to collect a Matisse of this type should instead turn to Picasso's depictions of Françoise.  Despite the economy of line, Picasso nonetheless brilliantly captures the essence and emotion of his subject.  In my opinion, such physiognamy was well beyond Matisse's reach. 

John Richardson, one of Picasso’s principle biographers, has written about this period as follows:

“Once again a change of circumstances resulted in a change of style. The end of the war, the beginning of an idyllic new relationship (with Françoise Gilot) and the resumption of Mediterranean visits after an interval of five years are all reflected in these light-hearted pastorales in which centaurs, satyrs and nymphs frolic and make love. Gone is the agonized look of Dora Maar; instead Françoise serenely gazes out at us from a series or radiant portraits often painted in a manner that recalls Matisse. From 1945 onward Picasso applied himself to lithography, completely revolutionizing the medium. He also injected new life into the art of ceramics, installing himself at Vallauris in order to do so. There, in 1948, Picasso bought a derelict scent factory so as to have sufficient studio space, and settled himself, Françoise and their two young children, Claude (born in 1947) and Paloma (born in 1949), in a villa nearby. The decade ends with a spate of paintings and lithographs, mainly of family life, which testify to the artist’s happiness.” (John Richardson, Picasso: An American Tribute, New York, 1962).

This lithograph is distinguished from the remainder of the series by the beautiful, art deco (of which Picasso is clearly the father), floral interpretation of the subject's hair, reminiscent of her completed metamorphosis as a flower, which Picasso achieved in the painting of La Femme-Fleur (see image below) the previous month.  Another more complete metamorphosis is exemplified in Françoise en Soleil (Françoise as the Sun-Woman, Bloch 404), a somewhat smaller print.