Woman Leaning on Her Elbow, Back of Sculpture, and Bearded Head

1933 (published 1939)

Vollard Suite: Woman Leaning on Her Elbow, Back of Sculpture, and Bearded Head, 1933 (published 1939). Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Etching and sugarlift on vergé de Montval laid paper; image: 37.6 x 29.3 cm (14 13/16 x 11 9/16 in.); sheet: 49.6 x 38.2 cm (19 1/2 x 15 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of James and Hanna Bartlett 2018.1078 © Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York This print belongs to a series of 100 that the dealer Ambroise Vollard commissioned from Picasso during the 1930s. Picasso worked with master printer Roger Lacourière, experimenting with a range of etching techniques. Many of the prints, such as this one, feature a stark, linear style evocative of classical art that Picasso favored during this period. Here, a nude sculpture and heavily bearded face further suggest ancient Greece. Although Ambroise Vollard commissioned this print from Picasso in 1930, it was not printed until the 1939, the year of Vollard’s death.