Female Nude with a Guitar (Femme nue à la guitare) from Le Siège de Jérusalem: Grande tentation céleste de Saint Matorel

Female Nude with a Guitar (Femme nue à la guitare) from Le Siège de Jérusalem: Grande tentation céleste de Saint Matorel by Pablo Picasso is a powerful graphic work illustrating the artist's intense focus on Cubist principles during the 1910s. Created in 1913 and published in 1914 as part of an illustrated book featuring the text of Max Jacob, this piece exemplifies how the Spanish master translated his painterly innovations into the medium of prints.

The composition utilizes etching and drypoint, a combination of techniques that allowed Picasso to achieve both fine line definition and velvety textural effects. The subject, a female figure holding a guitar, is central to the artist’s iconography during this period. Picasso systematically fragmented the human form and the instrument, rendering them through overlapping planes and sharp, angular perspectives characteristic of late Analytic Cubism. The dark, expressive lines generated by the drypoint needle create dramatic tonal contrast, emphasizing the abstract dismantling of the subject while retaining a recognizable, intimate scene.

This work is one of three drypoints (two featuring etching) included in the illustrated book, reflecting Picasso's sustained technical experimentation in graphic arts. The decision to use these complex printing methods for literary illustration underscores the era's sophisticated approach to book production and the close collaborations between avant-garde poets and artists. This significant early 20th-century print is essential for charting Picasso's development in Cubism and is held within the distinguished collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).