Description

Neither this poster nor its motif have been reproduced on other posters.

Picasso produced two posters in memory of Antonio Machado. The first, a portrait, was produced in 1955. This is the second, which shows a symbolic representation of the award-winning poet.

The extremely simple design of the poster is very attractive due to the successful combination of colours and the arrangement of the shapes and texts. Picasso said that a good work of art could not exist without poetry. Palau i Fabre rightly says that “almost all of Picasso’s work is imbued with poetry, it radiates poetry […]. Picasso seems to be guided by the poetry of the line which in turn creates the form, volume, light and atmosphere.” Picasso maintained a constant relationship with poets and writers (Apollinaire, Jacob, Salmon, Eluard, Alberti, Aleixandre, Breton, Cocteau, Vallejo, Neruda). Three of them were witnesses at his wedding with Olga. He himself wrote poetry that was widely accepted by critics.

Among his collections of poems, the most notable is “Trozo de piel”, which he wrote in his villa “La Californie” in Cannes between 8 and 9 January 1959. He later illustrated the same book with a series of engravings made on 19 June 1969 in Mougins. The title “Trozo de piel” was given by Camilo José Cela, to whom Picasso said “You tell me, it’s your profession”.