Picasso - Bloch 112

This image is one of the most tender and touching of the series of thirty etchings with which Picasso famously illustrated Ovid's Metamorphoses, published by Albert Skira in 1931. This etching is one of the fifteen full-page illustrations which, unlike Picasso's other illustrated books, closely corresponded to the narrative. (The fifteen half-page images which served as chapter titles bore no specific relationship to the text.) The series was created contemporaneously with the earliest prints of the Vollard Suite, with which it shared the simple elegance of the artist's classical style. Roland Penrose, one of Picasso's primary biographers, was particularly impressed by Picasso's Ovids because of their "astonishing perfection of line". (R. Penrose, Picasso: His Life and Work, 3rd Edition, p. 264)

Albert Skira was just starting out in the publishing business when he decided to shoot for the stars and ask Picasso to illustrate a book for him. Picasso agreed but was at a loss as to which book to choose to illustrate. After some time, Picasso related a dream to Pierre Matisse, the artist's son, in which women were transformed into fish. Pierre seminally proposed that Picasso illustrate Ovid's Metamorphoses. For his fiftieth birthday on October 25, 1931, Picasso received the first proof of this book from Skira.