picasso - Auckland Art Gallery

previous one (No. 60), done on the claybefore, explore the dance further. In BullGame the same group of dancers as inDancers form a tableau, and Picasso recallsa youthful memory of such a game playedby young people in Spain with a bull mask.Boeck also makes the point that woman isnow the dominant partner, whereas in theearlier works she is subdued.AC pl.47a. B pi. 164. B/S p.339.63 LA REPITITION(The Rehearsal)Lithograph 21st February50x65 50/50Here Picasso unites reality and mythology.The presence of masks in works of thisperiod, particularly in the great group ofdrawings of November 1953-February 1954,symbolises Picasso's attitude to life as he agesphysically. Masks of clowns, old men, classicalheads make the contrast between theephemeral of reality and the eternity ofillusion and mythology.B/S p.33664 LA FAiMILLE DUSALTIMBANQUE(The Family of Mountebanks)Lithograph 16th February50x65 50/50Picasso returns to subjects of 1905. TheHarlequin's Family, 1905, and The Mountebank,1905. The young woman on the rightin the latter is replaced here by an oldwoman. The young harlequin holding hischild in the former is replaced by an olderman carrying a monkey. In the 1905Mountebanks, the young man and the girlare hand in hand, here they are separatedand opposed, and between them four generationsare grouped together. Woman is againthe active partner. The old woman with hertambourine, the young nude girl and themature woman nursing the baby, emphasisethe passivity of man. The early works havean air of withdrawn melancholy, in this workthere is an immediate optimism.AC pl.46a65 LES TROIS FEiMMES ETLE TORERO(Three women and a toreador)Lithograph 17th February50x65 25/50Picasso, a few days later, returns to the BullGame, but here introduces elements to makeit a Life Game.66 LES DEUX MODELES(Two models)Lithograph 18th March50x65 25/50B pi. 16667 LA POSE NUE(Nude posing)Lithograph 15th March65 x 50 Artist's proof68 LA POSE HABILLE(Clothed model posing)Lithograph 19th March65x50 25/50Both of these lithographs (Nos. 67 and 68)are associated with the group of drawingsreferred to previously (No. 63). Most ofthe drawings in this group were concernedwith the artist and his model. However, theartist is depicted as a peering old man unableto recognise any more the beauty of themodel of whom Rebecca West wrote in aforeword (Verve, VIII, No. 29-30), 'Thetruth is that she symbolises Nature: theliving and visible and tangible world whichwe shall hate to leave behind us when wedie.' Picasso spoke of his fear of old age toM. Kahmveiler, 'Right now we can still doeverything we want. But to want and nolonger be able to, this is what is terrible! . . .'B pi. 16769 LE MODELE ET DEUXPERSONNAGES(Model and two figures)Lithograph 14th March57x77 25/50In this work the presence of the same oldwoman (Nos. 64 and 65) emphasises theold artist's indifference to the attractions ofthe model.B/S p.507-[14]-