After Picasso

After PABLO PICASSO (Málaga, 1881 – Mougins, France, 1973).
“Le Repos du Sculpteur” from the “Suite Vollard.”
Set of two lithographs, prints 927/1200 and 982/1200.
Posthumous edition by S.P.A.D.E.M.
Stamped signatures and pencil inscriptions.
Measurements: 42 x 33 cm and 33 x 42 cm.

The “Suite Vollard” is a clear testament to Picasso’s skill as a draftsman. The one hundred prints cover a wide variety of themes within Picasso’s universe. The series constitutes a significant portion of Picasso’s graphic output from 1930 to 1937, and many of the works not included in it share similar themes. Each of the prints becomes comprehensible when analyzed within the context of the series as a whole: it is the themes and motifs that preoccupied Picasso that lend unity and coherence to the prints. The major themes are: romantic passion personified in the model, his relationship with artists of the past and present, and the extent to which creative activity can be considered divine. The artist’s two primary incarnations are as a classical sculptor and as a minotaur—opposing personalities that form a typological dichotomy comparable to Nietzsche’s Apollonian-Dionysian antithesis. In the prints, an Apollonian-style linear approach is at times fused with dark, Baroque strokes imbued with Dionysian impetus.