Tehran – The 1956 French documentary “The Spanish Painter Pablo Picasso,” directed by Henri Georges Crouzo, is titled “The Mystery of Picasso,” and will be exhibited on Sunday at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran (Tmoca) in Tehran.
The 75-minute screening of the Persian subtitles will begin at 4pm on IAF’s Cinema Tech, Mehr reported.
In 1955, Cruzot joined forces with his friend Pablo Picasso to create a whole new kind of art film, “Movies that Can Capture the Moment and Mysteries of Creativity.” Together, they came up with innovative techniques. The filmmaker placed the camera behind a translucent surface, and the artist drew it with special ink that had passed away.
Clouzot took the perfect reverse image of Picasso’s brush strokes and transformed the motion picture screen into an artist’s canvas. Here, the Master creates 20 works (actually destroyed after filming), and sometimes erases them.
In the film, painter Pablo Picasso produces 20 drawings and paintings. The first is a paper depicting the act of creation, taken in real time from the back of the easel.
The film begins with Picasso creating a simple black and white marker drawing, and he gradually progresses to full-scale collages and oil paintings.
“The Mystery of Picasso” won a special Jue Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956 and was featured from the competition at the 1982 festival.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer, and spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, invention of built sculptures, co-invasion of collages, and the various styles that he helped develop and explore.
Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907-1977) was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is most memorable for his work in the thriller film genre, directing “The Wage of Horror” (1953) and “The Ladybolic” (1955), which are critically recognized as one of the greatest films of the 1950s. He also directed documentaries, including The Mystery of Picasso (1956), and was declared a national treasure by the French government.
The film screening will be held at the same time as the ongoing “Picasso of Tehran” exhibition at Tmoca. The exhibition presents the stories of Picasso’s life and the artistic times he crossed. It features 66 works by famous Spanish painters and sculptors from Tmoca’s collection. We will be open every day (excluding Mondays) until May 20th.
Of these, 26 Aquatint prints (not previously exhibited in Iran) from the famous series “La Tauromaquia” (The Art of Bullfighting) are the highlights.
This collection is one of the most famous works in the realm of his most famous prints, demonstrating his deep appeal to Spanish culture, particularly the dramatic and ritual sights of Bull Fight.
The series was inspired by Jose Delgado’s 18th century book, “La Tauromaquia o arte de torear” (Tauromatia, or the art of bullfighting). Jose Delgado, known as Peperillo, is a famous Matador, and his book became an important reference in the Spanish bullfighting tradition. A passionate about bullfighting since childhood, Picasso visually reinterpreted these historical accounts through his unique style of art.
Picasso adopted Aquatint Technique. This was a print process that allowed for rich tone variations, giving the image a dramatic and almost pictorial effect. The work is minimalist yet expressive, featuring bold black and white contrasts that emphasize bullfighting movements, tensions and raw energy.
Through Swift’s gesture lines and fluid composition, Picasso captures the essence of bullfighting: the bounty of matadors, the power of bulls, and the tensions of conflict. His depiction is not merely a literal illustration, but an abstract, emotionally recharged representation of the view.
“La Tauromaquia” reflects the charm of Picasso’s lifelong life that frequently appears in bulls and bullfighting, from early sketches to his masterpiece “Guernica” (1937).
SS/SAB