Tristan Tzara: De Memoire d'Homme

Pablo Picasso

"In 1949 the founder of the Dada movement, Tristan Tzara, asked Picasso to contribute illustrations to his recently completed book-length poem De mémoire d’homme. To create his images, Picasso experimented with a new technique, using his finger rather than a lithographic brush as the painting instrument. He also limited himself to three types of mark making: the fingerprint or spot, the line 'painted' with the finger, and the line drawn in lithographic chalk. By doing so, he draws a direct analogy between the written and pictorial mark: just as words are created from a finite repertoire of letters, his illustrations are created from a finite repertoire of marks." (Susan Greenberg Fisher, Picasso and the Allure of Language, New Haven, CT; Yale University Art Gallery, 2009.)

This technique renders Picasso's work within the pages of this artbook both intimate and whimsical: his focus becomes minute - insects and flora seen up close - but his tools of creation are disarmingly simple.