Sculptor at Work with Marie-Thérèse Posing (Sculpteur travaillant sur le motif avec Marie-Thérèse posant)
1933
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
etching in black on Montval laid paper [printed in 1939 by Roger Lacourière]
Dimensions
plate: 19.4 x 26.8 cm (7 5/8 x 10 9/16 in.) sheet: 38.9 x 50 cm (15 5/16 x 19 11/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1950.16.126
Art Historical Context
In 1933, Pablo Picasso created *Sculptor at Work with Marie-Thèse Posing*, an intimate etching capturing a pivotal moment in his artistic evolution. The image depicts an artist—likely a self-portrait of Picasso himselfsculpting while his muse, Marie-Thérèse Picasso poses nearby. This work emerges from Picasso's Boisgeloup period, where he immersed himself in sculpture, producing monumental plaster figures inspired by her voluptuous form. Marie-Thérèse, his secret lover from 1927 to 1936, profoundly influenced his shift toward surrealist and biomorphic distortions, blending classical volume wit...
About the Artist
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), born Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso in Málaga, Spain, was the son of José Ruiz Blasco, a painter and art professor who served as his first teacher. From age seven, Picasso trained under his father in figure drawing and oil painting, mastering naturalistic techniques by copying mas...