The Crayfish (La Langouste) (plate XXV, facing page 142) from Eaux-fortes originale pour des textes de Buffon (Histoire naturelle)
Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973
1936, published 1942
An aquatint and drypoint print by Pablo Picasso that reimagines a crayfish from Buffon’s natural-history texts as a lively, textured study mixing careful observation with expressive mark-making.
You first register the oversized curled langouste rendered in dark, scratchy lines against soft, gray washes—its segmented shell, spines, and long rostrum oscillating between scientific detail and animated personality amid ghostly seaweed and tiny fish.
Part of Picasso’s 1936 suite after Buffon, this plate merges natural-history illustration with modernist printmaking, showing how artists revived and transformed engraving techniques to make scientific subjects personal and inventive.
Medium
Aquatint and drypoint from an illustrated book with thirty-one aquatints
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 12 5/16 x 8 3/8" (31.2 x 21.2 cm); page: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
976.1964.25
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
