Picasso Prints: The Vollard Suite

The Vollard Suite is Picasso's most important group of etchings. Created between 1930 and 1937, a period in which the artist became immersed in sculpture, the suite takes its name from Ambroise Vollard (1866– 1939), the greatest avant-garde Paris art dealer and print publisher of his day.

This title is the first substantial publication in over thirty years of Picasso's Vollard Suite, stunningly reproduced from specially commissioned new photography; and is the first major reassessment of the Vollard Suite since the artist's death. The aim is to reveal the key themes of the Vollard Suite – the classical world, its sculpture and myths – as topics which preoccupied Picasso and influenced much of his work, particularly his landmark painting Guernica of 1937. It presents the etchings together with sculptural objects from the British Museum's unique collection, as well as documentary photographs of the artist, his lover and model Marie-Thérèse Walter, and Ambrose Vollard himself.

Published to coincide with an exhibition at the British Museum from 3 May – 2 September 2012.

The Author: Stephen Coppel is the Jim Slaughter curator of the modern collection of prints and drawings at the British Museum.