Female Nude with a Guitar (Femme nue à la guitare) from Le Siège de Jérusalem: Grande tentation céleste de Saint Matorel
Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973
1913, published 1914
An etching and drypoint by Pablo Picasso that breaks a female nude and her guitar into intersecting geometric planes as an experiment in Cubist fragmentation and multiple viewpoints.
You’re struck by a restless assemblage of hatched, angular forms— a mask‑like tilted face emerging from dense cross‑hatching while curved guitar shapes and fractured limbs lock together in stark black‑and‑white contrasts.
Created in 1913–14 for an illustrated book, this print demonstrates how Picasso translated Cubist painting into graphic media, helping to spread Cubist ideas and expand modern printmaking techniques.
Medium
Etching and drypoint from an illustrated book with three drypoints (two with etching)
Dimensions
plate: 6 3/16 x 4 9/16" (15.7 x 11.6 cm); page: 8 11/16 x 6 1/8" (22 x 15.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
956.1964.1
Palette
Exhibitions
