Grande Tête de Femme au Chapeau (B. 1078; Ba. 1293)

Following the end of the World War II, Picasso moved to Château de Vauvenargues in the south of France. Isolated from the established print workshops of Paris, a local poster printer named Hidalgo Arnéra suggested the linocut medium to Picasso as it was inexpensive and less cumbersome than lithography or engraving. A relief printing technique where images are created from a highly malleable printing matrix, the linocut fosters bold colors and sinuous lines as in the above image. Picasso famously grew frustrated with the tedious nature of multi-sheet linocut production and developed a revolutionary method where each image was created from a single sheet of linoleum. With Arnéra's assistance as printer, Picasso produced over one hundred of these dynamic images from 1958 - 1963, and as collaborators each encouraged the other to redefine the medium. The above print Grande Tête de Femme au Chapeau, a printer's proof aside from the numbered edition, was selected by Picasso especially for Arnéra, and bears his dedication as testament to their creative bond.