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Lot Essay
The Corrida subject appears in Pablo Picasso’s oeuvre as early as his childhood days, and more prominently in a first series on the subject created circa 1900, when Picasso was only 18 years old, having just visited his natal Spain the year before. Picasso's love of the bullfight was an essential and deeply impassioned element in his personal sense of españolismo, and an important source for his imagery; he would return to the subject at various times in his life.
The years 1957 to 1961 are some of the most important for the subject—indeed during those four years, Picasso produced four illustrated books devoted to the Corrida. The present ink work on paper dates from February 1957, the beginning of this crucial period of exploration. Executed in a kinetic and summary style, presenting the silhouettes of the toreadors on their horses as they deliver their devastating blow to the bull, cheered on by the spectators in the arena, Corrida offers a richly worked and highly dynamic example of one of Picasso’s favored subjects.
The years 1957 to 1961 are some of the most important for the subject—indeed during those four years, Picasso produced four illustrated books devoted to the Corrida. The present ink work on paper dates from February 1957, the beginning of this crucial period of exploration. Executed in a kinetic and summary style, presenting the silhouettes of the toreadors on their horses as they deliver their devastating blow to the bull, cheered on by the spectators in the arena, Corrida offers a richly worked and highly dynamic example of one of Picasso’s favored subjects.