RARE PICASSO ETCHINGS FOUND IN SPANISH LIBRARY

THIRTEEN ETCHINGS BY PABLO PICASSO HAVE COME TO LIGHT AFTER A SPANISH PROFESSOR DISCOVERED THEM JAMMED INTO THE PAGES OF A BOOK OWNED BY THE SPANISH ARTIST'S LOVER AND MUSE, DORA MAAR. THE AQUATINTS WERE FOUND BY CHANCE EARLIER THIS TEAR WHEN PROFESSOR ANDRES SORIA BEGAN LEAFING THROUGH THE PAGES OF AN ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF A BOOK OF POEMS BY THE SPANISH POET LUIS DE GONGORA, WHICH WAS BOUGHT BY SPAIN'S NATIONAL LIBRARY A DECADE AGO. THE BOOK, WHICH WAS A HOMAGE TO ONE OF PICASSO'S FAVORITE POETS, WAS MEANT TO HAVE BEEN ILLUSTRATED BY ANOTHER ARTIST, IGNACIO GONZALEZ DE LA SERNA. BUT IT SEEMS THAT PICASSO WAS SO DISGUSTED WITH GONZALEZ DE LA SERNA'S WORK THAT HE TORE THE ILLUSTRATIONS OUT AND INSERTED ARTIST'S PROOFS OF HIS OWN WORK. HE EVEN DREW A MASK ACROSS GONZALEZ DE LA SERNA'S NAME IN THE FRONT OF THE BOOK. THE AQUATINTS REMAINED INSIDE THE BOOK THAT PICASSO GAVE TO MAAR, THE FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER AND PAINTER WITH WHOM HE HAD A TEMPESTUOUS RELATIONSHIP IN THE 1930s AND 1940s. THE BOOK BEARS PICASSO'S OWN PARTICULAR DEDICATION TO HIS LOVER, WHOSE NAME HAS BEEN INTERTWINED WITH THAT OF GONGORA. PROF SORIA SAID IT LOOKED AS THOUGH PICASSO HAD DELIBERATELY ADAPTED THE BOOK TO MAKE IT A PRESENT FOR MAAR. HE SAID HE HAD BEEN AMAZED TO FIND PICASSO'S OWN ETCHINGS IN THE BOOK. "IT WAS A VERY EXCITING MOMENT", HE SAID. MOST OF THE ETCHINGS WERE REPRODUCED LATER IN PICASSO'S OWN PERSONAL HOMAGE TO GONGORA, A LIMITED EDITION LIVRE D'ARTISTE HE PUBLISHED IN 1948 IN WHICH HE WROTE OUT OF HAND 20 OF GONGORA'S 16th CENTURY POEMS, HAD THEM TRANSFERRED TO COPPER PLATES AND THEN EMBELLISHED THE MARGINS. THE PROJECT TOOK PICASSO ABOUT TWO YEARS TO COMPLETE. SORIA, A LITERATURE SPECIALIST, SAID HE WAS WAITING FOR ART HISTORIANS AND PICASSO EXPERTS TO TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO THE FIND, WHICH REMAINED SECRET UNTIL RECENTLY.