"Births" (chapter title, page 61) from Corps perdu
Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973
1949, published 1950
An aquatint plate by Pablo Picasso serving as the chapter-title page “Naissances” (Births) in his illustrated book Corps perdu, where he uses printed black ink and biomorphic marks to evoke emergence and creation.
You’re struck by two sets of lace-like, dripped black forms—one arcing above and one hanging below the centered word NAISSANCES—their spidery textures and the wide cream margins making the marks feel both fragile and vital.
Made in Picasso’s postwar printmaking, this work shows him bringing painterly gesture and automatic, organic forms into the illustrated book, expanding what print techniques could express and how text and image could interact.
Medium
Aquatint from an illustrated book with twenty engravings, ten aquatints (one with drypoint), one drypoint, and one etching (including wrapper front)
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 12 1/16 x 9 3/8" (30.7 x 23.8 cm); sheet: 15 3/8 x 11 1/8" (39 x 28.2 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
995.1964.18
Palette
Exhibitions
