Painter at Work with a Bearded Model and a Seated Spectator

Picasso drew this composition swiftly on the copper plate, using a brush dipped in acid and a plate coated with powdered resin. He treated the subject of the artist and model frequently. Here the artist is shown at an easel seated between two nude figures, a bearded man, who is his model, and a young woman who watches. This print was the result of a felicitous association with the Crommelynck brothers, Aldo and Piero. In 1961, at age 80, Picasso moved with his new wife, Jacqueline Roque, to Mougins, in southern France. The Crommelyncks, master printers Picasso had worked with in Paris, followed with the express purpose of collaborating with the artist. What ensued was a productive and highly innovative period of printmaking, resulting in some 500 prints.