"Pablo Picasso: La Tauromaquia" opens at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, March 28, 2024


"Pablo Picasso: La Tauromaquia" opens at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City
Pablo Picasso, Toreando a la Veronica, pl. 7 from the book La Tauromaquia o Arte de Torear by José Delgado alias Pepe Illo (Barcelona: Gustavo Gili/Ediciones La Cometa, 1959).



JERSEY CITY, NJ.- Mana Contemporary, in collaboration with Barcelona gallery Sala Gaspar, presents Pablo Picasso: La Tauromaquia, on view from March 7 to August 1, 2014. The rare exhibition of all 26 of Picasso’s La Tauromaquia etchings also includes an original ink drawing never before seen in public that Picasso dedicated to Miguel Gaspar on the cover of the book.

In 1957, the Barcelona-based publishing house Gustavo Gili commissioned Pablo Picasso to illustrate the 18th-century book La Tauromaquia o arte de torear (“Tauromachy or the Art of Bullfighting”), by José Delgado, known colloquially as “Pepe Illo.” In the span of a few weeks that summer, Picasso etched 26 plates for the book, each depicting different moments in the bullfight. Picasso created this portfolio with a technique that was unusual for him, the sugar-lift aquatint, which allowed him to paint directly on the copper plates with a brush. His use of this process proved incredibly successful, evoking the tension, action, and choreography of the bullring through suggestive shapes and lines.

Picasso’s life-long fascination with bullfighting—at once a performance and a ritual—began during his childhood, when he would frequently accompany his father to the bullfights hosted in Málaga, his native city. Picasso’s preoccupation with the bullfight remained a recurring theme in his work, exploring dualities such as: love-and-eroticism; violence-and-purity; executioner-and-victim; and light-and-shadow, amongst others.

Picasso’s series of aquatints sets out the sequence of steps in a bullfight, from the picture of the bulls lying down in a meadow to the bullfighter being gored in the bullring. In each illustration, the artist reduces the drama of the spectacle by stylizing the figures of the bulls, picadors and bullfighters with extremely subtle dynamic movement; and his fast, tense hand testifies to the swift action of the bullring.

The process for publishing La Tauromaquia originally got underway in 1926, when Gustavo Gili Sr. contacted Picasso with the opportunity to illustrate one of the new books in his Ediciones de la Cometa collection. After a flurry of letters and a series of interviews, Picasso agreed to illustrate Delgado’s book, which had also inspired the bullfighting etchings by Goya, whom Picasso deeply admired. The publishing process came to a halt in 1930 for no apparent reason, and it was nearly 30 years later, in 1956, that Gustavo Gili Jr. revisited the conversation with Picasso to complete the project begun by his father.

The woven paper for the book was specially made by Guarro and brought to Paris from Barcelona, bearing a distinctive bull’s head watermark, which Picasso designed himself. The printing of the plates was performed in the Lacourière workshops in Paris under the artist’s strict supervision. For the cover, Picasso made a dry point, printed at Jaume Pla’s presses in Barcelona, featuring a kite, the symbol of Gili’s Ediciones de la Cometa collection. The book was published at the Sociedad Alianza de Artes Gráficas (SADAG) presses in Barcelona on October 25, 1959.










Today's News

March 7, 2014

Whitney Museum of American Art opens last Biennial at Madison Avenue building

Rare depiction of the young Hercules leads Christie's Sale of Antiquities in April

Exhibition exploring 1960s art related to the Civil Rights Movement debuts at the Brooklyn Museum

The National Gallery expands Research Centre through the acquisition of Agnew's archive

Midnight Sun Antique Auction Co. to offer 'Amarna' necklace exhibited at Metropolitan Museum

Exhibition at the McNay Art Museum offers an insider's look into the world of theatre design

Exhibition of ten "mitt pictures" made between 1988 and 1992 by Jules Olitski opens at Paul Kasmin Gallery

The conservation of The Penitent Mary Magdalene by a pupil of Caravaggio on view at Nationalmuseum Sweden

Phoenix Art Museum purchases large early 17th century Dutch Delft Vase and Cover from Aronson Antiquairs

Hauser & Wirth New York presents its debut exhibition for Mira Schendel, landmark artist of Post War Brazil

Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831 masterpiece goes to Cardiff

Silver bowl ordered by the Japanese imperial household 108 years ago for sale at Bonhams

Celestial Deities: Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture Ca. 500-1100 CE on view at Throckmorton Fine Art

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, announces new leadership for Education and Outreach

Arts Council England grants £87,582 to create a digital archive of manuscripts

Explore "Joseph Cornell and Surrealism" at U.Va.'s The Fralin Museum of Art

Success story or struggle? Portraying Indians in United States

"Pablo Picasso: La Tauromaquia" opens at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Houser Centennial Drawing Exhibit opens

Exhibition at Albright-Knox Art Gallery features work by influential women artists of our time

Art Basel in Hong Kong moving to March dates from 2015




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful