Description

Neither this poster nor its motif has been reproduced in other posters. In “Seated Nude and Flute Player,” the drawing reproduced in this poster, the male character is younger than the woman. Normally, the Master would use in these works a naked Ephebe, standing or lying down, playing ancient musical instruments or with hawks and eagles, or eating. On the other hand, he sometimes uses white-haired old men drinking wine, or attentive fathers and loving mothers attended by cupids, or mature, sensual and well-endowed women, enraptured by the vision of youth and intoxicated by the rhythm of music and Nature.

In the drawing reproduced in the two posters we see practically the same scene. There is a mature, naked woman, apparently enraptured by the music and ready for a love encounter with a young man, also naked, who plays an ancient oboe.

In the drawing the woman’s body is plump, with large breasts and Picasso has drawn her femininity in some detail. In the case of the man, a naked young man, we are shown his torso and buttocks, but not his manhood, which the woman seems to observe with interest. Picasso draws the young man’s body with clear, metallic lines, which recall, as Schiff rightly says, his sheet metal constructions; the colouring of the drawing is soft and austere.