The linocut, made using a relief printmaking technique, is created by cutting into the surface of linoleum. What is not cut away picks up the rolled-on ink, which is then transferred to paper. The softness of the linoleum allowed Picasso to make continuous fluid strokes that yield curvilinear patterns. To
accommodate four colors, Picasso did not resort to using four linoleum blocks because he felt it stifled the progress of his creativity. To accommodate his desired work pace, the artist developed a reductive “cut and come again” method using a single block, printing first with white or cream ink before any background had been cut away. Then he made his first pass on the linoleum with a knife, inked the block with a second color and pulled what became the first drawing or first state. In this still life, he repeated the process four times, with four colors.
By reputation, linocut was considered a craft, suitable for children and young artists. Yet this 81-year-old artist brought innovation to this so-called primitive technique and realized a monumental, powerfully composed still life. The strong palette, bold shapes and curvilinear lines have much affinity with Spanish art and the Moorish influences that Picasso remembered from his homeland.
Details
- Artist Name: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
- Title: Still Life with Glass Under the Lamp
- Date: 1962
- Medium: Linocut
- Edition: Edition of 50, No. 15
- Dimensions: comp: 21 x 25-1/4 in. (53.3 x 64.1 cm); sheet: 24-1/2 x 29-1/2 in. (62.2 x 74.9 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1977.15.2.9.G
- Copyright: © Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Information
On loan
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1977-07-21 to 1978-05-01
Picasso in the Sixties
- Norton Simon Museum, 1996-01-18 to 1996-04-28
Through His Eyes: The World of Pablo Picasso
- Norton Simon Museum, 2003-12-12 to 2004-02-16
Seven Decades of Picasso
- Norton Simon Museum, 1984 to 1986
The World of Picasso
- Norton Simon Museum, 1994-03-24 to 1994-11-06
Van Gogh to Picasso: Selected Master Prints from 1890-1960
- Norton Simon Museum, 1986-08-07 to 1987-04-26
Picasso: Graphic Magician, Prints from the Norton Simon Museum
- Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, 1999-01-24 to 1999-03-28
- Toledo Museum of Art, 1999-11-07 to 2000-01-16
- Norton Simon Museum, 2000-04-12 to 2000-09-04
Significant Objects: The Spell of Still Life
- Norton Simon Museum, 2012-07-20 to 2013-01-21
Seven Decades of Picasso
- Norton Simon Museum, 1979-10-11 to 1980
- Fryberger, Betsy G. and Gloria Williams, Clinton Adams, David Carrier, and Pat Gilmour, Picasso: Graphic Magician, Prints from the Norton Simon Museum, 1998, color pl. 5 pp. 103, 154
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1433 p. 406
Additional Artwork by Artist
Image reproduction permission may be granted for scholarly or arts related commercial use. All image requests, regardless of their intended purpose, should be submitted via the reproduction request form.
Images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Additional permission may be required.
Approved requests for the reproduction of an image will receive a contract detailing all fees and conditions of use of the image. Upon receipt of both the signed contract and full payment, the Office of Rights and Reproductions will provide the image. A complimentary copy of the published material must be provided to the Norton Simon Museum.