The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Egyptian

1953

Pablo Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)

Spain, 20th century

sugarlift aquatint

Sheet: 91 x 63.6 cm (35 13/16 x 25 1/16 in.); Platemark: 83.2 x 47.3 cm (32 3/4 x 18 5/8 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1997.142

Catalogue raisonné: Bloch I.168.746; Baer IV.210.906

Location: not on view

Description

During his 70-year career Pablo Picasso produced about 2,500 prints—a commitment to printmaking unmatched by any other 20th-century master. Incredibly inventive in each medium with which he worked, he learned sugarlift aquatint from the greatest intaglio pinter of the time, Rober Lacourière. A mixture of sugar syrup and ink is used to draw on a copper plate. When dry, the entire plate is covered with a varnish that is impervious to acid and put in warm water. As the sugar melts, it lifts the varnish off, exposing the copper plate where the artist has drawn. These areas are then aquatinted; fine particles of acid-resistant resin are deposited on the plate and heated so they adhere to the surface. Next, the plate is immersed in acid, which bites into the plate in tiny pools around each particle. When the plate is printed, the resulting image resembles a freely executed, grainy wash drawing with rich blacks and subtle gray tones. Picasso's prints are often autobiographical, forming an intimate visual diary of his thoughts and experiences. The Egyptian is a portrait of Françoise Gilot who appeared in his work repeatedly after the artist met her in 1943. In this image he abstracted the figure developing such ideas as describing the subject from multiple points of view simultaneously. This is a particularly beautiful impression, a proof made before the edition of 50 was printed.

Heirs of the printer, Roget LaCouriere
Heirs of the printer, Roget LaCouriere
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major African Sculpture, Recent Mark Tansey Painting, and Other Works of Art Enter CMA Collection,” September 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg: Recently Acquired Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17-November 26, 2000).
Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; September 17 - November 26, 2000. "From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg: Recently Acquired Prints."
{{cite web|title=The Egyptian|url=false|author=Pablo Picasso|year=1953|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.142