PABLO PICASSO 1881-1973
Málaga 1881-1973 Mougins (Spanish)

Title: Toros Vallauris, 1958

Technique: Original Hand Signed and Numbered Linoleum Cut in Colour on Arches vellum paper

Paper Size: 80.6 x 65 cm / 31.7 x 25.6 in

Image Size: 64,5 x53 cm / 25,4 x 20,9 in

Additional Information: This original linoleum cut is hand signed in blue crayon by the artist "Picasso" in the lower right margin.
It is hand numbered in pencil "114/195" in the lower left margin.
The linoleum was prepared from two plates: Black and Orange in the 24th of June 1958.
The work was printed by Arnera in a limited edition of 195 signed and numbered impressions in 1958. There are some artist proofs (possibly 22) that are mostly unsigned.
The publisher was Association des Potiers de Vallauris.
The work is also signed and dated "24.6.58" in the plate in the middle right part.

Literature:
1. Bloch, Georges. 1975. Pablo Picasso: Tome I, Catalogue de l'oeuvre Grave et Lithographie 1904 - 1967, edition Kornfeld et Klipstein, Berne.
Reference: Bloch 1282
2. Baer, Brigitte. 1994. Picasso: Peintre-Graveur, Tome IV, Catalogue Raisonne de l'OEuvre Grave et des Monotypes, 1946-1958, Editions Kornfeld, Berne.
Reference: Baer 1049.

Condition: Very good condition. The sheet edges with creases, discoloration of the margins and remains of adhensive tape verso, light-stain verso.

The most important of the linocut compositions which Picasso made in the 1950's inspired by his passion for the bullfight and his involvement with making ceramics at Vallauris. The depiction of the torero is equally aesthetically and technically ambitious.

The emotional drama, the colour, the panache and the clash of strength and power which are the essence of the Bullfight and so much a central element in the Spanish character were a vital element in Picasso's inspiration. In the years from the 1950's onwards, as he found himself increasingly tortured by finding the means of expression or the issues in his art, so the Bullfight also became one of the principal ways that he found release and entertainment.

It was at this period that he also became fascinated by the print medium of linocut. The softness of the block allowed him to work the gouge very freely so that wide variations of emphasis and strength could be put into the cuts. He found that he could make patterns of lines and patterns of surface which were quite unlike any other medium. These patterns could be interwoven around a treatment of form and perspective which permitted him to further explore the idea of the dual viewpoint - as in the interwoven full-face and profile of the Matador above.

Above all Picasso also found that he could use a type of colour through linocut which was totally new, resulting from the way that the block could be cut away to reveal a 'layer' of the image below. So in the 'Matador' above the black main block reveals the glowing orange-yellow below, evoking the quality of the heat of the sun on the shining sand of the bullfight arena.