NARRATOR:
This is the first stage of a series of lithographs of a bull Picasso did in December 1945 and January 1946. The animal was a familiar subject for Picasso, so it provided the perfect opportunity to experiment with all the possibilities lithography had to offer. Success at lithography requires working closely with highly skilled printers, because the artist’s rendering can easily be damaged during the printing process. Picasso’s unconventional techniques and incessant reworking of the composition presented major challenges to the artisans in the lithography workshop of Fernand Mourlot, where Picasso had settled in to do his work.
Picasso began his series of bulls with this naturalistic view done by drawing on the stone with an ink wash. Mourlot described how the image evolved:
FERNAND MOURLOT (actor):
“[First] a magnificent bull, beautifully drawn, noble even. A week later, he returned and asked for a new stone, redrawing his bull with wash and pen, and on December 18 he started all over again. In the third state, the bull was redone using a scraper and pen, with great emphasis on its bulk, so that it became a horrifying beast with horns and frightening eyes. At the last proof there remained only a few lines. I had watched him at work, reducing, always reducing. I remembered the first bull and I said to myself: What I don’t understand is that he has ended up where he really should have started! But he, Picasso, was seeking his own bull … you cannot imagine how much work was involved!”
The Bull
December 5, 1945
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
Not on View
The Norton Simon Museum is noted for its collection of Picasso's graphic works. Among them are prime examples of the artist's progressive suites -- groups of lithographs reworked several times to create a successive group of images. Outstanding among these progressive suites is the series entitled "Le Taureau," or "The Bull," a sequence of states beginning with a realistic representation of a bull and ending with a stunning simplification of that form. In this group alone, Picasso clearly demonstrates why he is both a classical master draughtsman and the revolutionary creator of modern art.
Details
- Artist Name: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
- Title: The Bull
- Date: December 5, 1945
- Medium: Lithograph on paper
- Edition: 1st state, 1 of 18 artist reserved proofs
- Dimensions: 11-5/8 x 17 in. (29.5 x 43.2 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1977.08.3.01.G
- Copyright: © Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Information
The World of Picasso
- Norton Simon Museum, 1994-03-24 to 1994-11-06
- Mourlot, Fernand, Picasso Lithographs,no. 17
- Various authors, edited by Mark Rogián, Spanish Art in America,2016, p. 194 ; p. 195 (ill.)
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 1413 p. 404
- Fryberger, Betsy G. and Gloria Williams, Clinton Adams, David Carrier, and Pat Gilmour, Picasso: Graphic Magician, Prints from the Norton Simon Museum, p. 136
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