"This exceptionally striking image was created by Picasso as
a poster for the bullfighting at Vallauris in 1953. It is one of the
earliest of the images that he drew for the bullring there. The treatment
of the image, of the linked profiles of the spectators seen in the
form of a cut-out silhouette, is a typical example of how Picasso
could approach a new project and totally cast aside all the conventional
treatments of the idea and create something totally new, both in concept
and in technique... Conceived as an indian ink drawing it was then
cut and printed as a lino block, using the sharp outline of the block
to make all the definition of form and the separation of the figures
from within the single flat surface of the silhouette" (Weston)
"Picasso received commissions from the Vallauris Potters Association
to make posters to promote the region and its products. That was
when Picasso became a successful poster artist. From this date on,
with his intuition of genius and the virtuosity which accompanied
his artistic production, Picasso began to produce posters of great
originality, some of them true masterpieces" (Picasso
During the 1950s the renowned French printer, Mourlot Freres, printed
most of the "original" posters of the most important artists
of the day. In 1959 they printed the series "Affiches Originales"
for collectors. They are reduced lithographic versions of the "original"
posters created by the contemporary masters, Picasso, Chagall, Braque,
Matisse, Miro, Leger, and Dufy.