PABLO PICASSO (Malaga, 1881 - Mougins, France, 1973).
"Bacchanale au Hibon", 1959.
Linocut on Arches paper, copy 17/50.
Hand signed and numbered.
Publisher: Wilhelm Boeck - Editions Cercle d'Art, Paris.
Work documented and referenced in the following catalogues raisonnés: -Baer, Brigitte. Picasso: Peintre-graveur, Tome V 1959-1965. Bern: Editions Kornfeld, 1989, no. 1265. -Bloch, Georges. Picasso: Tome I, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographié 1904-1967. Bern: Editions Kornfeld et Cie, 1986. no. 938. -Lieberman, William S. Picasso linoleum cuttings. New York: Random House, 1985, no. 43. "Picasso Linogravures", 1962.
Size: 62.2 x 74.9 cm: 69 x 81.5 cm (frame).
Bacchanals were a theme that Picasso depicted repeatedly. Taken from Dionysian mythology, the genius from Malaga turns the theme on his own concerns linked to the passage of time and the libido. The allusion to the owl (in the title) suggests a certain metaphorical darkness, as if the celebratory scene could be tinged with foreboding in the time of the blink of an eye. In contrast to the vital energy and luminous character of Mediterranean culture, the owl could symbolise the counterpart of shadow. But it is also a metaphor for wisdom (emblem of Athena). The bacchanal is set in a landscape of mountain peaks. The hollows are home to naked bodies and dancers, flute players and lovers. The undulating movement of the lines emphasises the sense of music and dance.
The creator of Cubism together with Braque, Picasso's painting was a turning point in the history of art. He began his studies in 1895 at the Provincial School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and only two years later he held his first solo exhibition at the café "Els Quatre Gats". After several short stays in Paris, Picasso settled permanently in the French capital in 1904. After his blue and pink periods in the early years of the century, the painter began his geometrical experiments in 1906, during a stay in Lérida. A year later he began to paint "Les Demoiselles de la Rue Avinyó", and in 1909 he came into contact with Braque and his Cubist period began. During the second decade he developed his classical period, and produced his famous sets for Diaghilev's Russian ballets. In 1936 he was appointed director of the Prado Museum by the Government of the Spanish Republic, and a year later he painted "Guernica". His definitive international recognition came in 1939, when he was given a retrospective at the MOMA in New York. During the following decades he was the subject of anthological exhibitions all over the world, in Rome, Milan, Paris, Cologne and New York, among many other cities. He is represented in the most important museums around the world, such as the Metropolitan, the MOMA and the Guggenheim in New York, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the National Gallery in London and the Reina Sofía in Madrid.