© 1998 by Prolitteris, CH-Zürich
Minotauromachy, Picasso's large etching from the year 1935, is widely considered to be the most important print of the 20th century; indeed, it is arguably the greatest print to have been created since Rembrandt's time. And yet despite this common assessment of its importance, no comprehensive analysis of either the content or the structure of the work exists. All we have are generalized interpretations and appreciations, usually built on the premise that, although the figure of the Minotaur is clearly associated with the theme of the bullfight, the figures of the girl with the candle, the women at the window, and the man on the ladder, have no intrinsic meaning. In this scheme, a coherent interpretation can be obtained only by recourse to a system of symbols borrowed from psychology or psychoanalysis.
Picasso was most emphatically not an artist who, in translating the realities he had lived or experienced, attempted, like the realists, an exact reproduction of nature or who, like the surrealists, unconditionally followed the dictates of fantasy.
It is the aim of this book to make the symbols of Minotauromachy "legible" by defining as precisely as possible its iconographic content and compositional values.
The book contains 132 pages, 278 photolithographic plates of which 82
polychrome works are reproduced in full colour whilst those in black
and white are printed in black. The book measures 9 13/16 x 11 7/16 in. /
250 x 290 mm. It is bound in cloth, has an illustrated dustjacket and is
contained in a cardboard slipcase.
German, French and English editions are published simultaneously.
Patrick Cramer Publisher, 1987
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