Undergraduate Honors Thesis

 

Pity for the Mythic Brute: Pablo Picasso’s Minotaur in the Vollard Suite Public Deposited

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https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/hq37vp12g
Abstract
  • This thesis examines the nuances of Pablo Picasso's minotaur as presented within the framework of the Vollard Suite. I argue that a text by Honoré de Balzac, Physiologie du Mariage, may have influenced Picasso's conception of the minotaur. It features of a minotaur, yet one framed within a parodic setting. The minotaur, explored in connection with the Balzacian creature, reveals the introspective nature of the Picasso’s beast. Furthermore, the comedic tone of Balzac's Physiologie served as a means for Picasso to reflect upon the subconscious drives, which in turn, the artist visually manifested through his surrogate-self, the minotaur. As Picasso's favored alter-ego during the 1930s, one that was deeply linked to his personal, artistic, and Spanish identities, Balzac's text offers the infusion of his French identity into his conception of the minotaur. Traditional scholarship surrounding the minotaur focuses on the mythological or Spanish aspect, which this analysis will not be contesting, but will rather offer another facet to interpretations of the creature.

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  • 2018-01-01
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  • 2020-10-08
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