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Weeping Woman I

Print of woman with distorted and exaggerated features holding handkerchief to face.
© 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • Print of woman with distorted and exaggerated features holding handkerchief to face.

Date:

July 1, 1937

Artist:

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
printed by Roger Lacourière (French, 1892-1966)

About this artwork

A ferocious image of grief, Weeping Woman I is one of the most powerful works that Pablo Picasso undertook in the wake of his seminal Guernica (1937; Museo del Prado, Madrid). After completing Guernica, an expression of the horrors of war and a critique of fascist tyranny, Picasso continued to be drawn to the subject of agonized grief. Between June and December 1937, he undertook a series of drawings, paintings, and prints known as The Weeping Women, in which he focused and elaborated on two figures first presented in Guernica. The figure in this print may also represent the artist’s lover, the Surrealist photographer Dora Maar. In Weeping Woman I, Picasso drew inspiration from contemporary events and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century religious imagery. He modernized the traditional theme of the Virgin Mary lamenting the death of her son. The importance Picasso accorded this etching is suggested not only by its size—it was the largest plate he had yet attempted—but also by the energy he invested in it. He developed the finished print through seven independent states. It seems that he felt the need to work and rework this image, perhaps in an effort to exorcise the demons of war and his difficult relationship with Maar.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Title

Weeping Woman I

Place

Spain (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1937

Medium

Drypoint, aquatint, and etching, with scraping, on copper in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 69.5 × 49.7 cm (27 3/8 × 19 5/8 in.); Sheet: 77.4 × 56.8 cm (30 1/2 × 22 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Through prior acquisition of the Martin A. Ryerson Collection with the assistance of the Noel and Florence Rothman Family and the Margaret Fisher Endowment

Reference Number

1994.707

Copyright

© 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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