Man with Guitar
Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973
1915, published 1929
A small engraving, drypoint, and aquatint print in which Picasso fractures a seated man and his guitar into interlocking geometric planes to show multiple perspectives at once.
At first glance a web of thin, incisive lines and hatched tonal blocks seems abstract, but those marks resolve into the curved body of a guitar and the angular suggestion of a figure, producing a tense, vibrating interplay of line and shadow.
By translating Cubist fragmentation into printmaking, Picasso helped disseminate modernist ways of seeing and expanded the expressive possibilities of graphic reproduction.
Medium
Engraving, drypoint, and aquatint
Dimensions
plate: 6 1/8 x 4 1/2" (15.5 x 11.5 cm); sheet (irreg.): 11 1/8 x 7 5/8" (28.3 x 19.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bareiss
Accession
146.1954
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
