Picasso’s Love of Words
Picasso self portrait
A groundbreaking exhibition examining Pablo Picasso’s lifelong relationship with writers and the many ways in which language affected his work is currently appearing at the Nasher Museum at Duke University.
Portrait of Dora Maar
The Lure of Language
“Picasso's love affair with words began soon after his permanent move from his native Spain to the bohemian Montmartre section of Paris in 1904. It was there, in his studio at the “Bateau-Lavoir,” that he formed ardent friendships with a circle of important French writers and poets, including Max Jacob, Pierre Reverdy, and poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire, who encouraged artists of his generation to innovate violently!
The Absinthe Drinker 1901
In 1905, Picasso met Gertrude Stein, an expatriate American writer who, guided in art collecting by her brother Leo, became the artist’s principal patron in Paris until 1914. During this remarkable decade, which witnessed the radical invention of Cubism, Picasso’s art and Stein’s writing were equally informed by a concentration on both visual and verbal language, an interest that endured throughout their lives.”
Picasso, from Pierre Reverdy’s Le chant des morts (Day of the Dead)
“The exhibition marks the first time that works by Picasso originally owned by Gertrude and Leo Stein and now in the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection are reunited with materials from the Yale University Beinecke Library’s Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Papers. Among the objects drawn from this archive are an intimate 1914 collage made by Picasso from Stein and Toklas’s calling card, as well as letters and postcards written from Picasso to the Steins, who together assembled an astounding private art collection that included works by Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and others. The Beinecke materials also include Stein’s original transcripts of her perceptively written portraits of Picasso, as well as audio recordings of Stein reading those writings.”
First Communion, Picasso at 15.
Picasso and the Allure of Language
The Nasher Museum of Art/Duke University
August 20 – January 3, 2010
Picasso etching 1948 from the portfolio Gongora – Vingt Poemes
Special thanks to the irrepressible Little Augury for this most welcome addition.
I had read about this and hope to get there to see it. Seeing some of his earlier works, you realize how truly gifted he was.
I really like the portrait of Dora Maar, which I hadn’t seen before, although it might have been better for her career if she hadn’t gotten romantically involved with him. Some people aren’t the perfect match for anyone and Picasso seems to have been one of them.
Dsata,
I agree. I thought it one of his finest works.
Jane,
What an interesting piece of news on Dora Maar. And not surprising considering Picasso’s appetites.
I’m compelled now to read more on this. Thank you.
I really enjoy this portrait of Dora Maar.