Pablo Picasso as Book Illustrator

Marcel Duchamp is arguably the most influential artist of the twentieth century, but most would concur that Pablo Picasso was the greatest. In innovation and output, Picasso as a painter, sculptor, draftsman and printmaker was without equal. He was also one of the greatest book illustrators of the twentieth century. There are three books in each of the previous two galleries to represent his earlier work from the years 1911 to 1930. This gallery, containing forty-one volumes, represents his prodigious activity as a book illustrator over the final five decades of his life. Working in etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint, lithography, and linoleum cut, Picasso explored a full array of artistic styles including Cubism, Classicism, Surrealism, and Expressionism.

Escrito (Letter) by Ilia Zdanevitch (Iliazd)

Book (folio) with 6 etchings and engravings on Antique Japan paper; sheets folded in varying ways in beige Arches wove wrappers (two sheets).

La Fosse commune by Ivan Goran Kovatchitch

Book with 1 engraving with burin on Arches wove paper; Arches wove wrappers with lettering in black and red on the front cover.

Vingt Poèmes by Luis de Góngora y Argote

Book with 41 etchings, engravings and sugar lift ground aquatints on Marais paper watermarked "Gongora"; loose in greenish Auvergne wrappers.

Carmen by Prosper Mérimée

Book with 38 engravings with burin on Montval paper; loose in wrappers with lettering on the front cover and spine; marbled paper and cloth-covered.

Corps perdu (Lost Body) by Aimé Césaire

Book with 32 illustrations total: 1 etching, 1 etching and drypoint, 10 aquatints, and 20 engravings with burin on Montval wove paper.

The Picasso Gallery

A portrait of Pablo Picasso

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