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Pablo Picasso

Jeux de Centaures: A Suite of Drawings

December 10, 1997–January 17, 1998
Beverly Hills

Pablo Picasso, Jeux de Centaures, 1948 Ink on paper, 23 ½ × 29 ¾ inches (59.7 × 75.6 cm)

Pablo Picasso, Jeux de Centaures, 1948

Ink on paper, 23 ½ × 29 ¾ inches (59.7 × 75.6 cm)

Pablo Picasso, Jeux de Centaures, 1948 Ink on paper, 23 ½ × 29 ¾ inches (59.7 × 75.6 cm)

Pablo Picasso, Jeux de Centaures, 1948

Ink on paper, 23 ½ × 29 ¾ inches (59.7 × 75.6 cm)

Pablo Picasso, Jeux de Centaures, 1948 Ink on paper, 23 ½ × 29 ¾ inches (59.7 × 75.6 cm)

Pablo Picasso, Jeux de Centaures, 1948

Ink on paper, 23 ½ × 29 ¾ inches (59.7 × 75.6 cm)

About

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition of eleven drawings by Pablo Picasso entitled Jeux de Centaures. This series, depicting dancing centaurs and pipe-playing fauns, was created to provide the cover design for the 1948 season of the Ballet des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Picasso’s interest in the spectacle dates back to his early youth, as seen in his many renderings of circus and music hall scenes. His first real participation with the ballet was in 1917 with Parade, during which he spent eight weeks in Rome with Jean Cocteau, Serge Diaghilev, and Léonide Massine.

The theme of the centaur and the pipe-playing faun was highlighted in a group of Picasso’s drawings (Zervos XIV, 203–223) made in the south of France in 1946. This renewed interest in classical references was inspired by his surroundings in the town of Antibes, the ancient site of Antipolis. Furthermore, the reverse technique of ink on paper, where the image consists of negative blank space and is silhouetted by ink laid solidly in the background, recalls the same process used in painting his ceramics, suggesting the importance and relevance of his own past.

Like all the pictures in the Musée Picasso at Antibes, these drawings reflect a happy period in the artist’s life. The joie de vivre inspired by the birth of his children, his involvement with music and dance, and his playful readaptation of the ceramic techniques defines this period in Picasso’s career.

A Foreigner Called Picasso

Behind the Art
A Foreigner Called Picasso

Join president of the Picasso Museum, Paris, Cécile Debray; curator, writer, biographer, and historian Annie Cohen-Solal; art historian Vérane Tasseau; and Gagosian director Serena Cattaneo Adorno as they discuss A Foreigner Called Picasso. Organized in association with the Musée national Picasso–Paris and the Palais de la Porte Dorée–Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, the exhibition reframes our perception of Picasso and focuses on his status as a permanent foreigner in France.

Dora Maar, Portrait de Picasso, Paris, studio du 29, rue d’Astorg, winter 1935–36

A Foreigner Called Picasso

Cocurator of the exhibition A Foreigner Called Picasso, at Gagosian, New York, Annie Cohen-Solal writes about the genesis of the project, her commitment to the figure of the outsider, and Picasso’s enduring relevance to matters geopolitical and sociological.

Black and white image of  Pieter Mulier. Photo: © Paolo Roversi, courtesy Alaïa

Fashion and Art: Pieter Mulier

Pieter Mulier, creative director of Alaïa, presented his second collection for the legendary house in Paris in January 2022. After the presentation, Mulier spoke with Derek Blasberg about the show’s inspirations, including a series of ceramics by Pablo Picasso, and about his profound reverence for the intimacy and artistry of the atelier.

Portrait of Sir John Richardson, New York, 2005. Photo: Janette Beckman/Getty Images

The Art of Biography: Sir John Richardson’s “The Minotaur Years”

Pepe Karmel celebrates the release of A Life of Picasso IV: The Minotaur Years, 1933–1943, the final installment of Sir John Richardson’s magisterial biography.

A black-and-white portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler seated at a desk in front of a painting by Pablo Picasso.

Game Changer
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

Michael Cary pays homage to the visionary dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884–1979).

Grace McCann Morley, c. 1950s.

Game Changer
Grace McCann Morley

Berit Potter pays homage to the ardent museum leader who transformed San Francisco’s relationship to modern art.