The Grasshopper (La Sauterelle) (plate, facing page 154) from Eaux-fortes originale pour des textes de Buffon (Histoire naturelle)
Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973
1936, published 1942
An aquatint, etching, and drypoint print by Pablo Picasso that depicts two highly patterned grasshoppers among foliage, reworking a natural-history subject into bold, decorative forms for an illustrated book.
You first notice the insects’ intricately patterned, almost armored bodies—dense hatchings and stippled tones set against spare, flattened leaves and stems so the composition reads like a striking, ornamental relief.
Made as part of Picasso’s illustrated edition of Buffon, this work exemplifies how he brought modernist invention to traditional book illustration and helped revive intaglio techniques by turning scientific imagery into expressive, abstracted prints.
Medium
Aquatint, etching, and drypoint from an illustrated book with thirty-one aquatints
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 10 15/16 x 8 5/16" (27.8 x 21.1 cm); page: 14 3/16 x 11 1/4" (36 x 28.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
976.1964.31
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
