Sculptor at Rest IV (Le repos du sculpteur IV) 1933

This etching, *Sculptor at Rest IV*, was made by Picasso using line. Look how sparse and economical they are. Imagine him, leaning over the plate, and the image slowly coming into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with him, you know? What was it like to create? What was he thinking when he made it? The physical, almost erotic, nature of the figures seems to me to be at odds with the quietness of the line. There is the suggestion of a classical narrative. We are allowed to imagine what that is. Picasso always had an awareness of what other artists did and then he just went off and did his own thing with it, inspired, not copying. It is an ongoing conversation through time and across ideas. The artist embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed or definitive readings.