Picasso and His Monsters

One of the most intriguing art events of this season took place last Sunday at the LACMA auditorium. A single famous artwork was discussed in depth and interpreted in provocative ways during a day-long symposium devoted to what is arguably Picasso's greatest print. Seven art scholars argued their points of view regarding one particular etching, Minotauromachy, that the artist printed in 1935 -- the worst year of his life -- according to his own statement. Picasso's marriage to Russian ballerina Olga Koklova was falling apart, and he was involved in a clandestine love affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter, who, at the time they met, was only fifteen years old...