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La Tauromaquia
Picasso’s fascination with the bullfight started when he was a young boy in Malaga. His childhood notebooks from school are filled with sketches of matadors, bullrings, and picadors. It is a little known fact that the very first oil ever created by the young master was of a matador (1889-1890). The art of the bullfight remained an important theme for the artist and was one that Picasso continued to explore throughout his creative years. Gustavo Gili Senior originally commissioned this album in 1927. Picasso made a few prints that were used in various other publications and the war in Spain ended the project. In 1957 Picasso returned to the project after Gustavo Gili Junior reminded him of the commission. By directly painting on the copper plates Picasso employed the "sugarlift-aquatint"
process, or sometimes called, the "lift ground aquatint" process to
create this portfolio. Picasso learned this rather obscure etching
technique from Roger Lacouriere. He first used this technique when
creating his 1933 Vollard suite. Formally, Piacsso's use of this process
proved incredibly successful, creating the tension and action of the
bullring through suggestive shapes and lines. |
La Tauromaquia is a series of 26 aquatint etchings illustrating one
of the most important themes of the Catalan culture, the art of the
bullfight. Picasso created this body of work in 1957 as an homage
to the famous 17th century matador,Torero Jose Delgado. "Pepe Illo",
written by the Delgado, was the first handbook ever published for
Toreros and aficianados.|
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