Pablo Picasso Lithograph, 1964, Woman

Artist: Picasso, Pablo (after)
Title: Untitled (Woman)
Year: 1964
Medium: Lithograph on Arches
Paper Size: 13" x 9"

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso (1881-1973)

Picasso is recognized as one of art's great geniuses. Few artists in history have matched his stature and imp act. The son of an art teacher, he gave evidence of his talents early in his life. He was born in Malaga, lived for some years in Barcelona, and in 1901 moved to Paris where an exhibition of his work was held by Ambroise Vollard, an art dealer. Vollard's appreciation of Picasso's talents and his business acumen were key elements in Picasso's rise to dizzying heights. The years 1901 to 1904 marked the artist's blue period, in which he depicted grim social conditions. His rose period followed briefly, and in 1908 Picasso and Georges Braque began to develop cubism. Picasso experimented with collages and portraiture before entering, in the 1920s, what is known as his metamorphic phase, extending classical forms through his own visions. Expressionistic art was reflected in his major work Guernica, which was exhibited in 1937 at the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris World's Fair. Persuaded by printmaker Fernand Mourlot, Picasso turned to lithography in the 1940s. His inventiveness and verve conquered the medium, making it an exciting art form again and forever setting a standard of excellence. Picasso's graphic oeuvre is tremendous, containing dry points, etchings, woodcuts, linocuts, lithographs, and aquatints. In 1982 a sale of ninety-eight rare prints sold for almost $1.4 million dollars at Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York.