Picasso’s Musician, Dancer, Goat and Bird (1959)

Picasso, Musician, Dancer, Goat and Bird (1959) Lithograph.

Click image to enlarge.

Take a look at how the shape of the pipes matches the P of Picasso's signature in the top left-hand corner, both leaning at a similar angle. The tambourines in the hands of the dancer opposite are similar but with the stems of the P bent. This indicates that the musician-artist on the left is "painting" an image of himself, the dancer, with certain changes that make the "portrayal of himself" less obvious to viewers on the literal level. Both figures, though, with their P-like arms are representations of Picasso himself. Even their right legs, though in a completely different position, one dancing, one sitting, are a similar shape.

This composition uses the same technique as Picasso's Faun Flutist discussed elsewhere. It was, however, drawn twelve years earlier, thus demonstrating how some of Picasso's unseen techniques were repetitively used by him throughout his career.

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