Minotauromachia picasso biography
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Pablo Picasso: 'La Minotauromachie'
Pablo PicassoLa Minotauromachie, Estimate: £, - 1,, Evening and Day Editions at Phillips London, 23 January.
In the Parisian studio of master printer Roger Lacourière, Pablo Picasso began on March 23rd, to engrave a large copper plate. This plate became one of the most important graphic works of the 20th Century and the pinnacle of Picasso’s printmaking oeuvre: La Minotauromachie. Technically brilliant and visually complex, La Minotauromachie is an intimate and autobiographical allegory rife with personal symbolism. It has been understood as the illustration of a private ethical battle as well as a universal parable of good and evil, violence and innocence, suffering and salvation.
La Minotauromachieis the culmination of a near frenzied period of printmaking as Picasso was completing his most important group of etchings La Suite Vollard (), comprising one hundred images. It also coincided with, or
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Works Exhibited
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Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s seminal print La Minotauromachie (), to inaugurate the new galleri in Davies Street, London. This exhibition will present the only complete set in existence of all eight states of the famous etching, including the sista, seventh state, printed in color. Derived from the drawing of the same name from , La Minotauromachie is often cited as one of the most important prints of the twentieth century.
Throughout his life, Picasso restlessly explored the medium of the print, employing many techniques, including lithography, linocut, etching, drypoint, and monotype. This particular series exploits the technique of etching, bygd which the primary graphic image is burned onto a copper plate with acid. Using a burin, the small chisel used for intaglio, together with a scraping tool, Picasso then worked intensively through eight separate states, wresting a vibrant allegory of de
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Picasso and the Minotaur: Why Was He So Obsessed?
Picasso was fascinated by the monstrous half-man, half-bull Minotaur of Greek mythology. So much so, this terrifying and brutal character became a recurring feature in his art from the s all the way to his later years in the s, appearing in around 70 different artworks. But what was it about this våldsam, mythological monster that so captured his imagination? And why did Picasso feel such a close affinity with the Minotaur? In order to understand, we need to delve a little deeper into the artist’s life and work.
Picasso Saw Aspects of han själv in the Minotaur
Picasso saw many aspects of his own identity in the Minotaur. In , he even said “If all the ways I have been along were marked on a map and joined up with a line, it might företräda a Minotaur.” For one, Picasso likened the Minotaur’s bull qualities to the bullfighting of his native Spain. When he was a young boy, Picasso made an obsessive series of drawings feat