Picasso, Toros y Toreros

any volumes have been published in the past on the subject of bullfighting, and yet more continue to appear. Few of these, however, can boast that they grew out of the friendship between a toreador and a painter - each a world-famous figure in his discipline, no less. This work was not Picasso's first collaboration with the Editions Cercle d'Art, to whom he regularly entrusted his book projects. But every time, the artist was deeply involved at every level of their production. For Toros y Toreros, he authored the cover art, and it was he who created the title and half-title pages. The volume brings together three of his sketchbooks, produced in the course of a decade of assiduous attendance at the bullfights of Dominguin in the south of France. It was also Picasso's idea to entrust the writing of the text to the bullfighter, who had become a close friend over the years, and refusing to provide him with any instructions or guidelines whatsoever. But it was Dominguin who accepted to 'descend into an arena that was entirely foreign to him.' His deep knowledge of the subject at hand from a unique perspective, that of the bullfighter, enabled him to recognise all of what Picasso had captured, and to breathe life into 'Old Spain', based on the artist's ability to penetrate the 'very entrails of this festival in the country that knows death more intimately than any there has ever been.' Text in English and Spanish.

A recognized art critic and historian, Georges Boudaille (1925-1991) was not only the author of works devoted to individual artists, he also wrote about the young artists of the Supports/Surfaces movement and the architect Jean Nouvel, among other endeavors. He highlights the remarkable writing of celebrated toreador Luis-Miguel Dominguin, who describes his art with nuance as well as the role of bullfighting in the Spanish national imaginary, and his deep friendship with Picasso that lies at the origin of this volume.