Picasso's Bullfighting Aquatints

A snapshot in time.


Most people don't realize that Pablo Picasso had a whole lifetime of art apart from the cubism movement that he pioneered.


He did tons of other works.

When I visited the Museo Picasso in Malaga (the birth place of our beloved cubist), I was SHOCKED at the breadth and depth of his early works. There was one (quite good) realist painting of a girl sitting in a chair that was not abstract in the least which he painted when he was only 15. There was pottery and my favorite, his aquatints. Entitled, La Tauromaquia ("The Bullfight" translated from Spanish to English), this series of 26 panels includes some of my favorite images of all time.


Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique which is a variant of etching. Created in 1957, Picasso's aquatints are exquisite in line and form. I love the black and white contrast. The movement of the drawings. The character of the images. The hurried expressiveness of the bullfighting scene.

This lesser known side of Picasso is powerful, exquisite, and by far, my favorite.

The Family of Pascual Duarte

Oh, I forgot to post about the book discussion that I led earlier this month. I picked the Family of Pascual Duarte, one of my most recently acquired favorite books. Last year we read excerpts of it in my Spanish Lit course in Spain with my favorite professor Antonio. And if Antonio liked it, I knew I was sure to like it.

The book (by Camilo José Cela) is about a guy in prison writing his memoirs. Unfortunately he kills a bunch of people and animals. It is a bit shocking and you feel really bad for poor Pascual and almost want to believe that he isn't a bad man like he first tells you. I don't wan't to give too much away, but know this, it is a great read. And I found it even more enriching the third time I read it.

Miss you, Spain

Oh my goodness. I miss Spain so much.

I miss Melissa. I miss all of my international friends. I miss all the other ISA'ers. I miss my intercambios, Francis and Angeles. I miss my classes, and Antonio especially. I miss Maria Carmen and even Paco. I miss hearing Spanish all the time. I miss living next to the beach. I miss my street. I miss traveling every weekend. I miss the life. I miss Spain. Te echo de menos.

I think the culture shock coming back to the US is worse than the culture shock of the other way around. I wanna go back!!

Semana Santa

At first we were scared when all the klu-klux-klan like costumes appeared in store shop windows in the form of lollipops and figurines. We asked our director and she said that is just what they wear for semana santa, or holy week, or as we call it Easter. Whew.

All week long in Malaga, they have processions that go through the street. Catholics wear long robes and capiotes, that point to the heaven. The men carry these huge elaborate thrones. They sway and sometimes chant. A few blindfold themselves in penintence for their sins. The more they suffer, the more their rewards. It was an amazing experience to see.

I wish I hadn´t known

So in culture class today we started the gastonomy section. We started talking about morcilla. Do you know what morcilla is? Yeah, I didn´t either. About twice a week at my host family´s house, we get this sausage in our soup. Sausage I can handle. Sure I don´t like the taste but I can smile and get it down my throat. Only morcilla isn´t sausage. I have been eating congealed blood. Yes, blood, curdled, thick, nasty blood wrapped in an intestine or who knows what. That is it. I can eat it no more. It was better when I didn´t know what it was. I feel queasy just thinking about it.

Here´s what wikipedia had to say about morcilla: "Blood sausage or black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking down the blood of an animal with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled." I´ve been eating this for the 2 months! Everyone said my face turned pale in class when I found out what is was.

I think I need to lie down.

Barcelona

Barcelona was fun. It is a HUGE city. I can´t even begin to tell of all the things we did. We visited Gaudi stuff like the Sagrada Famalia, Parque Guell, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera. We went on a boat ride around the port, shopped along Las Ramblas, took one of those cheesy sight seeing buses around the city (that was actually fun), ate in coffee shops, stayed in a hostal, saw two parades with statue that look like the king from the Burger King commercials(a scary sight when they are spinning and about to fall on you), witnessed a Cataluñya independence demonstration, and laughed at a bunch of crazy people dressed up as statues on the street. My favorite on was one that would stick out his cane and hit people on the butt as they passed by, but then went back to standing stone-statue-still so they would turn around and be like, "who did that?" I carried my umbrella along with me everywhere since it was calling for rain, but then felt like an idiot because the skies were as blue as could be. I bought one of the cool España jackets with my mad bargaining skills and hung out in the airport for 7 hours without sleep. We just plain had a fun time.

Sevilla

Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla: the capital of Andalucia. We had soooo much fun. We got there and even though it was raining, the touring was still pretty. We saw the cathedral, climbed to the top of the Giralda, saw the Jewish Quarter, the Jardin Maria Louisa, Plaza de Americas, Rio Guadalquivir and so much more. AND we took a thousand photos in the Plaza de España where George Lucas filmed Planet Naboo in a little movie known as Star Wars. We searched down a StarBucks and ate at a KFC in the spirit of America. I did notice that a lot more English speaking there and more good places to shop. Nevertheless, I am a friend of Málaga first. We stayed at a hotel which was sooo nice, with free little shampoos that is a stupid thing, but it made me happy. Sevilla, fun.

Torremolinos

We went Torremolinos a few weekends ago and had lots of fun. It is known for its beaches and little shops that zig zag down to the playa. Beautiful little city.

Funny story: Melissa and I laid down on the beach in the afternoon during siesta time when nothing was open and fell asleep. Later when we woke up we realized we were laying on a nude beach. Apparently, Europeans are much more open (even in their dirty tv commericals too). So anyway,girls were walking around and tanning half naked. Lets just say, awkward moment.

Córdoba

How cute. The animation to the left has nothing to do with anything except that it cracked me up. ha ha ha.

This weekend we went to Córdoba. We visited the Mezquita (3rd largest in the world), which is very cool. All the streets outside are so tiny and cute, and there are all the touristy shops along the streets too. At every turn a gypsy would come and say "guapa," some money por favor, in the most pathetic voice you´ve ever heard. Get a job at Burger King, for goodness sakes. They were even carrying around these nice leather purses. Where did they get those?


I´m pretty sick. Last night I had an excruciating ear ache, today I am feeling better though, so things are looking up.

Still laughing at the penguin thing. He he he.

Cadiz

Looking for flights online is a very stressful task. I want to rip my hair out about right now. eDreams looks like it is going to be the best bet to fly within Spain.

The other day we ate food that once again broke the disgusting barrier. Yes, this time it was the cartilage of a sting-ray. The bones went crunch crunch in my teeth. Shudder. I don´t even like seafood to start out with. What nutritional value is there in the freaking cartilage of a sting-ray???? None, all that remains is the horrible horrible texture in my mouth.

This weekend we went to Cadiz for Carnaval. We had fun. The bus ride was 5 hours long. I must say. It was a pretty crazy weekend. We stayed in a hostel that may have met the gross barrier, but that's ok, we didn't spend much time in there. We met people from all over Spain. Got to go fast. bye.

Ronda

Ronda was pretty. Went there this weekend. On a mountain. Me like sentence fragments.

Ronda is another of those cliff towns, that look like they could take a tumble anyday. The Arab Baths we visited were sooo cool. The Arabs were freaking geniuses. I would so want to go to a hot room, cold room, massage room, pool room, etc. if I lived back then. Heck, I want my own bath house now. I´d invite all my friends and we could have a bath house party!

I've noticed a trend that a lot of southern Spanish cities build their homes on the edge of a cliff. Come on guys. Who really thought that was a good idea?? This is my room mate Kourtney and me. I dressed for a winter storm, but then it was deadly hot on the bus ride there and I though I would die of heat.

Malaga

Ok, finally to malaga. I love it. I still can´t believe that I really live here. My apartment is (in walking distances) 45 minutes from the beach, 5 minutes from the university, and 25 from the center of city.

My host family are the sweetest people in the world. They make me feel so at home.

The beach here is great and the temperature is very comfortable.


The spanish schedule was built with me in mind. Lunch at 2 and supper at 9, and the best part? the siesta in the middle of the day! I love it, it is just unreal.

My spanish is coming along. I´m not fluent yet by any means but at least I can understand general concepts that people are talking about.