Minotaur Kneeling over Sleeping Girl is a 1933 etching by Pablo Picasso. It is part of the Vollard Suite of 100 etchings (No. 93, Bloch 201, Baer 369). It is the first example among several works to be realized through the remaining part of the decade where Picasso used the theme of the legendary Minoan creature, the Minotaur.
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur, also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "part man and part bull". He dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, upon command of King Minos of Crete. According to tradition, every nine years the people of Athens were compelled by King Minos to choose fourteen young noble citizens to be offered as sacrificial victims to the Minotaur in retribution for the death of Minos's son Androgeos. The Minotaur was eventually slain by the Athenian hero Theseus, who managed to navigate the labyrinth with the help of a thread offered to him by the King's daughter, Ariadne.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and the anti-war painting Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique, rather than a photographic reproduction of a visual artwork which would be printed using an electronic machine ; however, there is some cross-over between traditional and digital printmaking, including risograph.
The Blue Period comprises the works produced by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso between 1901 and 1904. During this time, Picasso painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colors. These sombre works, inspired by Spain and painted in Barcelona and Paris, are now some of his most popular works, although he had difficulty selling them at the time.
Minotaure was a Surrealist-oriented magazine founded by Albert Skira and E. Tériade in Paris and published in French between 1933 and 1939. Minotaure published on the plastic arts, poetry, and literature, avant garde, as well as articles on esoteric and unusual aspects of literary and art history. Also included were psychoanalytical studies and artistic aspects of anthropology and ethnography. It was a lavish and extravagant magazine by the standards of the 1930s, profusely illustrated with high quality reproductions of art, often in color.
Ambroise Vollard was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with being a major supporter and champion of the contemporary artists of his period, providing exposure and emotional support to numerous then-unknown artists, including Paul Cézanne, Aristide Maillol, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Louis Valtat, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Georges Rouault, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh.
Sir John Patrick Richardson, was a British art historian and biographer of Pablo Picasso. Richardson also worked as an industrial designer and as a reviewer for The New Observer.
"Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu" is a short story by Honoré de Balzac. It was first published in the newspaper L'Artiste with the title "Maître Frenhofer" in August 1831. It appeared again later in the same year under the title "Catherine Lescault, conte fantastique". It was published in Balzac's Études philosophiques in 1837 and was integrated into La Comédie humaine in 1846. The work is separated into two chapters: "Gillette" and "Catherine Lescault".
The Dream and Lie of Franco is a series of two sheets of prints, comprising 18 individual images, and an accompanying prose poem, by Pablo Picasso produced in 1937. The sheets each contain nine images arranged in a 3x3 grid. The first 14, in etching and aquatint, are dated 8 January 1937. The remaining four images were added to the second printing plate later, without use of aquatint, and dated June 7, 1937.
Minotauromachy is a 19.5 by 27.4” etching and engraving created by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in Paris in 1935. The etching and resulting prints, literally entitled Minotaur Battle, feature many compositional aspects and themes seen often in Picasso’s art throughout the 1930s. These include the Minotaur, an unconscious or dying female matador on an injured horse, a young girl holding a candle and flowers, a man scaling a ladder, and two women watching with doves from a window. Created during a time of personal turmoil within which Picasso created little artwork, Minotauromachy stands out as a seminal and striking piece with no shortage of artistic interpretations.
Aldo Crommelynck was a Belgian master printmaker who made intaglio prints in collaboration with many important European and American artists of the 20th century. At the time of his death, The Guardian termed Crommelynck the 'pre-eminent' and 'the most celebrated printmaker of the second half of the 20th century.'
Howard Albert (1911–2004) was a printmaker, musician, and composer. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1930s. He also studied printmaking with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 in New York. Hayter's studio was a workshop for other artists such as Picasso and Miró.
Le petit picador jaune is an oil on wood painting by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, which he created in 1889 at the age of eight. It is considered to be the earliest known surviving work by the artist. The painting is a colourful representation of a Spanish bullfight, a subject which Picasso repeatedly returned to throughout his career.
The Vollard Suite is a set of 100 etchings in the neoclassical style by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, produced from 1930 to 1937. Named after the art dealer who commissioned them, Ambroise Vollard (1866–1939), the suite is in a number of museums. More than 300 sets were created.
The 347 Series or 347 Suite is a series of etchings by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso executed between March 16 and October 8 1968. The work was Picasso's largest in terms of the number of individual prints in the series; and his penultimate large etching series before the 156 Series of 1969-1972. It was dedicated to his friend Jamie Sabartes. No name was given by Picasso to the series. The 347 series was first displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago and Paris's Galerie Louise Leris in 1970.
Bernard Ruiz-Picasso is a businessman and art collector. He is the grandson of Pablo Picasso and the son of Paul and Christine Ruiz-Picasso. He curates international exhibitions dedicated to Pablo Picasso.