Picasso Guitars 1912–1914

In this nearly abstract composition, two concentric circles of charcoal on newspaper provide a cursory indication of a guitar's sound hole. The roughly cut pieces of colored paper and worn wallpaper fragments—Picasso was said to sometimes tear paper off walls to incorporate into his artwork—suggest a certain rapidity in execution, contrasting with the artist's conceptually rigorous play with the minimum requirements of representation. The strips of printed wallpaper at the top and bottom of Guitar include illusionistic cast shadows, a sly reference by Picasso to one of the most standard tricks for simulating three-dimensionality in two-dimensional images.