Pablo Picasso

Picasso worked and developed this drypoint engraving in 20 different stages directly on the plate in a manner typical of the artist. Remnants of earlier phases remain in the background, giving the etching its rich tone. This sheet is the most important graphic translation of Picasso's sculptures of heads from 1930/33 and especially of the bust in plaster of Marie-Thérèse Walter executed in 1931. Another version of the sculpture appears in the charcoal drawing on canvas ‘Sculptured Head (Marie-Thérèse) from 1932.

Picasso met the seventeen-year-old Marie-Thérèse in 1927. He was married to the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova since ten years. The blonde and athletic Marie-Thérèse became his model and mistress. She would also become the mother of their daughter Maya, born in 1935. During this period, Marie-Thérèse appeared in drawings, prints, paintings and sculptures. The name of the young recurring model was a well-kept secret. It was only in the 1960s, when Francoise Gilot's memoirs were published in 1964, that the mysterious goddess-turned-muse was given a name.

Through engraving, etching, lithography and linocuts, Picasso's graphic works provide a valuable insight into the artist's creative process. He builds up images and returns to subjects important to him throughout his career. Variations on a particular subject - whether it is bullfighting, bacchanalia, portraiture, the old masters or the theme of artist and model - reflect the artist's fascination with working in series. The motifs recur in graphic form, in drawings, sculptures and in large works on canvas.