Picasso: Skulpture

The book Picasso: Sculptures is part of the Yugoslav series Small Art Encyclopedia, a popular edition of small pocket monographs on modern artists (14 pages of text plus 24 reproductions).

Roland Penrose (1900–1984), British surrealist, poet, critic and close friend of Picasso since the 1930s, writes an introductory essay on Picasso's sculpture: from early works (1901–1909, ceramics and modelling), through cubist constructions (1912–1914, e.g. cardboard and metal guitars), through assemblages and ready-made elements (absinthe glass 1914), to later bronze and iron sculptures of the 1920s–1960s (women, animals, figures with holes, monumental works).

The emphasis is on Picasso's innovation: sculpture as an extension of painting, play with materials (wire, tin, waste), metamorphoses, primitive influences and three-dimensional explorations of space and form. Penrose points out that there is no difference between Picasso the painter and Picasso the sculptor – everything is part of a unique creative process. Illustrations include 14 reproductions (black and white) of key works: Construction of a Guitar, Woman with Child, Monkey with Cub, Head of a Woman, etc.