A French colonial scandal hit the headlines in 19o4-5. Arbitrary executions and murders by two French colonial officials, Gaud and Toqué, were made known and widely publicized, notably in the illustrated weekly L'Assiette au beurre, to which Picasso's painter friends Juan Gris and Frank Kupka both to become prominent Cubist painters later frequently contributed A special issue on The Torture of Blacks came out in March 1905.