Pablo Picasso

Aquatint, 1934, from the Vollard Suite, signed in pencil, from the total edition of 310, on Montval laid paper, watermarked Vollard, published by Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 1939

With full margins, in good condition apart from a tiny fox mark to the left of the Minotaur's eye, occasional pale fox marks verso, one in lower left margin verso partially visible recto, hinged to the mount at two points at upper corners, deckle partially shaved at upper right edge of sheet, framed.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Minotaur is a key protagonist in the Vollard Suite.  This beguiling and frequently appropriated figure from Greek mythology is seen as a representation of Picasso's alter ego with its many complexities: "sometimes orgiastic, intractable and rapacious, sometimes jolly, convivial and in an effervescent mood, sometimes solitary and pitiable".[1] In the present work, we see the blind Minotaur being led by a young girl: a theme which recurs several times in the course of the Vollard Suite. The girl is unmistakably Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso's young lover at the time.  At once vulnerable and disconcerting, this beautiful and richly printed impression is one of the highlights of Picasso's ambiguous and many-faceted narrative of the Minotaur.  

[1] Sebastian Goeppert & Herma C. Goeppert-Frank, Minotauromachy by Pablo Picasso, Geneva, 1987, p. 12