Pablo Picasso's "The Vollard Suite" (1930-1937) at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (Nov 10, 2011-Jan 7, 2012)

Photo courtesy of: Arty Factory

The Metropolitan Museum of Manila presents a rare exhibition of the works of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) entitled "The Vollard Suite" which he did between 1930 and 1937 in Paris. These are 100 etchings of different techniques on watermarked Montval paper. The owner of this collection is Fundacion MAPFRE and its Instituto de Cultura.

This exhibition runs from November 10, 2011 to January 7, 2012.

For more info, contact:

Metropolitan Museum of Manila

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex,
Roxas Boulevard, Malate-Manila (1554)
Telephone Nos.: (632) 523-0613 / 523-7855 / 521-1517
info@metmuseum.ph

Info below was lifted from Metropolitan Museum of Manila website:

Commissioned by the art dealer and editor Ambroise Vollard, Pablo Picasso created one hundred copper etchings between September 13, 1930, and march 1937 that have come to be known in art history as the Suite Vollard.

In 1938, the set of 100 prints appeared in two different formats, one large (760x500mm) on vellum paper, signed by the artist with red or black pencil, and 50 copies per plate. The other, smaller version (445x340mm) is on laid Montval paper, watermarked with "Vollard" or "Picasso", and produced in runs of 250 copies.

Today, the small format is found spread out as single prints in different private and public collections, and only some of these sets, such as the FUNDACION MAPFRE's are preserved in their entirety. The complicated history of the work's origin, the varied themes and diverse techniques used, such as graver, etching, aquatint, color wash and drypoint, and even combinations thereof, encouraged their dispersion and there are few complete collections currently in existence. The Suite Vollard makes up, as such, one of the most important historic-artistic testimonies of the 20th century.

The complete series includes three portraits of Ambroise Vollard, five plates referred to as the Battle of Love, or Rape, created in 1933; forty-six plates from The Sculptor's Studio (forty etchings from March 20 to May 5, 1933, and six between January and March 1934); four plates of Rembrandt (created July 27-31, 1934); fifteen plates of The Blind Minotaur, created from May 17-June 18, and September 22-October 22, 1933; and twenty-seven varied compositions. The etchings do not follow a logical sequence in their images; their chronology follows more current events and the artist's personal experiences.

In twenty-seven of the one hundred copper plates that make up the Suite Vollard, Picasso takes on very diverse topics that were mostly already present in his work like the bathers, the jugglers, and the circus. Some of them, such as the woman-model, in Suite Vollard acquire an inverse classicism, full of serenity, enormity and balance.

The Suite Vollard fully reflects the Picasso-type dialectic that fluctuates between order and violence, classicisms and disfiguration, serenity and chaos. All of Picasso's influences can be seen in the series, his delusions of grandeur and his deep Mediterranean culture. 

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