Pablo Picasso
(1881-1973)
Deux Femmes nues, 1930
(Metamorphoses d’Ovide)
Etching
31.0 x 22.4 cm
Frame: 29 in. x 22-3/4 in.
Picasso illustrated the Metamorphoses d’Ovide series images in a classical Greco style, and historians consider them to be among his most successful graphic works. Critics have observed that Ovid’s great epic tale, which embodies a large measure the ‘spirit of antiquity,’ had kindled Picasso’s enthusiasm and desire to portray the story of the Ovidian myths that often recur in the poetry of the French Renaissance. He prepared thirty etchings of which all but one are classical in style.
In this print, Picasso had arranged for his young mistress, Marie- Thérèse Walter to pose as his model. She is also depicted in many illustrations for Les Metamorphoses. The image of Deux Femmes nues (two seated nudes with a patterned background) is the only etching in the suite that Picasso did not execute in the classical style which he adopted from observing ancient Greek red-figured vases with fine incised line drawing.
