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Picasso & the Camera

Curated by John Richardson

October 28, 2014–January 3, 2015
West 21st Street, New York

Installation view © 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view © 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view © 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view © 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever

Works Exhibited

Pablo Picasso, photographed by David Douglas Duncan, 1957 © David Douglas Duncan, Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Pablo Picasso, photographed by David Douglas Duncan, 1957

© David Douglas Duncan, Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Pablo Picasso, Le réservoir (Horta de Ebro), 1909 © 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Le réservoir (Horta de Ebro), 1909

© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Picasso with Bob (the Great Pyrenees), Château de Boisgeloup, France, 1932 Modern print from original negative, 4 ⅝ × 2 ¾ inches (11.7 × 6.9 cm)Archives Olga Ruiz-Picasso© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Picasso with Bob (the Great Pyrenees), Château de Boisgeloup, France, 1932

Modern print from original negative, 4 ⅝ × 2 ¾ inches (11.7 × 6.9 cm)
Archives Olga Ruiz-Picasso
© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Picasso’s sculpture studio, Château de Boisgeloup, France, 1931, with (left to right) La grande statue (1930), Buste de femme (Marie-Thérèse) (1931), and Tête de femme (Marie-Thérèse) (1931) Vintage photograph, 4 ⅜ × 2 ⅝ inches (11.1 × 6.8 cm)Archives Olga Ruiz-Picasso© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Picasso’s sculpture studio, Château de Boisgeloup, France, 1931, with (left to right) La grande statue (1930), Buste de femme (Marie-Thérèse) (1931), and Tête de femme (Marie-Thérèse) (1931)

Vintage photograph, 4 ⅜ × 2 ⅝ inches (11.1 × 6.8 cm)
Archives Olga Ruiz-Picasso
© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Autoportrait avec “Portrait d’homme,” 5 bis, rue Schoelcher, 1915–16 (Paris) Gelatin silver print, 6 ¾ × 4 ¾ inches (17.2 × 11.9 cm)© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Autoportrait avec “Portrait d’homme,” 5 bis, rue Schoelcher, 1915–16 (Paris)

Gelatin silver print, 6 ¾ × 4 ¾ inches (17.2 × 11.9 cm)
© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Le réservoir (Horta de Ebro), summer 1909 Oil on canvas, 24 ⅛ × 20 ⅛ inches (61.5 × 51.1 cm)Fractional gift to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from a Private Collector© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Paige Knight

Pablo Picasso, Le réservoir (Horta de Ebro), summer 1909

Oil on canvas, 24 ⅛ × 20 ⅛ inches (61.5 × 51.1 cm)
Fractional gift to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from a Private Collector
© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Paige Knight

About

Gagosian, in partnership with Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, is pleased to present Picasso and the Camera, the fifth in a series of major Picasso surveys, following Mosqueteros (2009), Picasso: The Mediterranean Years (1945–1962) (2010), Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou (2011), and Picasso and Françoise Gilot: Paris-Vallauris 1943–1953 (2012). Curated by Picasso biographer John Richardson, with the assistance of Gagosian directors Valentina Castellani and Michael Cary, the exhibition explores how Picasso used photography not only as a source of inspiration, but as an integral part of his studio practice. Spanning sixty years, this show—which includes many photographs taken by Picasso but never before seen or published, as well as related paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, and films—will provide an unprecedented survey of his unique relationship with the camera. David Korins, acclaimed scenic and production designer for stage and screen, has transformed the 21st Street gallery with an innovative exhibition design that seamlessly incorporates the vast array of archival materials with Picasso’s own works in a variety of media.

The most famous visual artist of the twentieth century, Picasso was also the most photographed. His striking features made him an icon of his own time, recognized the world over. Yet this phenomenon was not a mere by-product of celebrity; his own practice set the precedent. Picasso engaged with photography and photographers in myriad ways, starting from his early days in Paris and continuing through the last years of his life. He used the camera to capture life in the studio and at home, to try out new ideas, to study his works and document their creation, and to shape his own image as an artist at work. He collaborated with Brassaï, his celebrated mistress Dora Maar, and André Villers to create wholly original works; filmed home movies of his family and friends; and worked with filmmakers such as Luciano Emmer and Henri-Georges Clouzot to capture his creative process. His life and work were documented by photographers as diverse as Jean Cocteau, Cecil Beaton, Man Ray, Lee Miller, Edward Quinn, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Lucien Clergue, Michel Sima, and Arnold Newman. The resulting body of photographs and films, filled with fact, invention, and myth, is vital to an understanding of Picasso’s achievements across his entire artistic output. As Picasso said to Brassaï, one of his favorite photographers, “I want to leave as complete a record as possible for posterity.”

Picasso and the Camera is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with new essays by Mary Ann Caws, Victoria Combalía, Marvin Heiferman, and John Richardson, as well as key texts by Jacques Prévert, Man Ray, and Paul Hayes Tucker.

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.