NARRATOR:
This etching is a remarkable example of Picasso’s ability to convey a wide variety of textures, shapes and patterns with line. He uses deft curves to convey a sense of volume without having to add any shading. We read the seated woman’s body and the sculpted head as three-dimensional. But the standing woman’s profile framed by the window seems flat. It’s stylized enough to look like a painting hanging on the wall. With these two figures and the bust on the pedestal, Picasso presents an intriguing interplay between different kinds of art—two-dimensional and three-dimensional.
The fabric of the seated figure’s dress, decorated with triangles and stars, appears light and filmy because of the graceful line defining the back of her thigh. The sculpture represents Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso’s mistress at the time. He has crowned her with garlands of flowers, effectively suggested by a squiggly, vigorous line.
Etching is a printing technique that was well suited to Picasso’s gift for expressive line. To create an etching, the artist coats a metal plate with acid-resistant varnish. Then, he draws on the surface with a sharp pointed tool, scratching away areas of varnish. Then, the plate is dipped into acid, which leaves grooves as it eats away at the exposed metal. The etched plate is inked and the ink fills the grooves. The printed image is the reverse of the artist’s original drawing on the metal plate. That’s why Picasso’s inscription of the place and date at the bottom right is backwards.
Suite Vollard, 1939, Paris: Two Women Looking at a Sculpted Head
March 21, 1933
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
Not on View
Edition of 50
Details
- Artist Name: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
- Title: Suite Vollard, 1939, Paris: Two Women Looking at a Sculpted Head
- Date: March 21, 1933
- Medium: Etching
- Edition: Edition of 50
- Dimensions: 10-1/2 x 7-3/4 in. (26.7 x 19.7 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1969.46.042.G
- Copyright: © Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Information
Picasso: Graphic Magician, Prints from the Norton Simon Museum
- Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, 1999-01-24 to 1999-03-28
- Toledo Museum of Art, 1999-11-07 to 2000-01-16
- Norton Simon Museum, 2000-04-12 to 2000-09-04
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 703 p. 329
- Fryberger, Betsy G. and Gloria Williams, Clinton Adams, David Carrier, and Pat Gilmour, Picasso: Graphic Magician, Prints from the Norton Simon Museum, pp. 56, 123
- Bloch, Georges, Pablo Picasso, Catalogue de l'oeuvre grave et lithographie 1904-1967,nos. 134-233 pp. 56-76
- Parke-Bernet Galleries, Modern and Old Master Prints,no. 230, repr. in part.
- Fischer Fine Art Ltd., Picasso, The Vollard Suite of 100 Etchings 1930-1937,nos. 1-100 pp. 19-31
Additional Artwork by Artist
Image reproduction permission may be granted for scholarly or arts related commercial use. All image requests, regardless of their intended purpose, should be submitted via the reproduction request form.
Images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Additional permission may be required.
Approved requests for the reproduction of an image will receive a contract detailing all fees and conditions of use of the image. Upon receipt of both the signed contract and full payment, the Office of Rights and Reproductions will provide the image. A complimentary copy of the published material must be provided to the Norton Simon Museum.