More on Picasso on paper - Le taureau series

Le Taureau series - Eleven lithographs,
Pablo Picasso
December 1945-January 1946
(Image from Leal et al, 2003, p. 364)

The second instalment from last weekend's visit to the Picasso on paper exhibition is, just as much as the first post on Picasso's Papier Colle, inspired by the artist's method and discipline of exploring abstraction. Within the space of six weeks, Picasso worked in the atelier of the printer Fernand Mourlot on a successive series of lithographs. Christine Piot, one of the co-authors of the already mentioned Leal et al. 2003, Ultimate Picasso, observes the extent to which this series

"reveals that Picasso liked to add, combine, and stick things together just as much as he like to strip, undo, prune, and purify." (p. 360)

The extent to which Picasso was moving in toboth directions throughout this series is fascinating - I had sat down to sketch most of the bulls to figure out for myself the extent to which he kept reworking forms, shapes, masses and lines throughout the series.

Another lithograph of a bull - this time a head facing left - only revealed itself to me once I moved away from it (and my own sketch):

Head of Bull Turned to the Left
Lithograph 1948
(Fine Arts Museums of Francisco)