The Success and Failure of Picasso

John Berger The Success and Failure of Picasso

I dedicate this book to my Anya, to Ernst Fischer, and to the memory of Max Raphael,[1] a forgotten but great critic. The three of them persuaded me.

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I would like to acknowledge the help of Tony Richardson throughout all stages of the production of this book — and especially for all his work in the tracing and collecting of the plates.

J.B.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the Artists Rights Society, Inc., for permission to reproduce the work of Pablo Picasso, Roger de la Fresnaye, Juan Gris, and Fernand Léger (all copyright ARS N.Y./SPADEM, 1988) and that of Georges Braque, Robert Delaunay, and Constantin Brancusi (copyright ARS N.Y./ADAGP, 1988). For their help in supplying specific photographs, we are indebted as follows: to Studio Alfieri for illustration 14; to Mariette Lachaud for 17; to the Arts Council for 18, 23, 42, 99, 100, and 106; to Giraudon for 52 and 66; to Éditions Cercle d’Art for 68; to Jean Mohr for 91; and to Galerie Louise Leiris for 103, 105, and 107–20. The remaining photographs have been obtained from the institutions and individuals acknowledged in the list of illustrations.

ILLUSTRATIONS

a. Picasso: Self-Portrait, autumn 1906 (Musée Picasso, Paris)

1 Château de Boisgeloup, Normandy

2 Picasso and Françoise Gilot at Golfe Juan, 1948 (photo: Robert Capa)

3 Picasso: An Old Man, 1895 (private collection)

4 Spanish landscape (photo: Jean Mohr)

5 Spanish peasants harvesting peppers (photo: Jean Mohr)

6 Easter procession in Lorca (photo: Jean Mohr)

7 Spanish peasants returning from market (photo: Jean Mohr)

8 Barcelona, Las Ramblas (photo: Jean Mohr)

9 Picasso: Head of a Horse, 1937 (on extended loan to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from the artist)

10 Rubens: Christ Crucified Between Two Thieves, 1620 (Antwerp)

11 Picasso: Portrait of Artist’s Father, 1895

12 Picasso: Portrait of Artist’s Mother, 1895

13 Picasso: The Coiffure, 1954 (Rosengart collection)

14 Picasso: Jacqueline with Black Scarf, 1954 (private collection)

15 Picasso: Seated Woman, 1955 (Rosengart collection)

16 Braque: Studio, VIII, 1954–55 (Douglas Cooper collection)

17 Braque: The Bird and Its Nest, 1955–56

18 Picasso: Self-Portrait, 1901 (private collection)

19 Picasso: The Frugal Meal, 1904

20 Picasso: Clown with a Glass (self-portrait), 1905 (private collection)

21 Picasso: Family of Saltimbanques, 1905 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Chester Dale collection)

22 Picasso: Acrobat’s Family with Ape, 1905 (Gothenburg Art Gallery)

23 Picasso: Still-life with Chair-caning, 1912 (private collection)

24 Fra Angelico: The Vocation of St Nicholas (detail), 1437 (Vatican Museum)

25 Picasso: The Fruit-dish, 1912 (private collection)

26 Courbet: Les Demoiselles des bords de la Seine, 1856 (Petit Palais, Paris)

27 Courbet: The Pond, 1860s (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

28 Poussin: Orpheus and Eurydice, 1650 (Louvre, Paris)

29 Cézanne: Trees by the Water, 1900–04 (private collection)

30 Braque: Bottle, Glass, and Pipe, 1913 (Lady Hulton collection)

31 Picasso: Portrait of Monsieur Kahnweiler, 1910 (courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago)

32 Gris: Portrait of Picasso, 1911–12 (courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Leigh Block)

33 Robert Delaunay: The Eiffel Tower, 1910 (Guggenheim Museum, New York)

34 Roger de la Fresnaye: Conquest of the Air, 1913 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs Simon Guggenheim Fund)

35 Carlo Carra: The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli, 1911 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, Lillie P. Bliss Bequest)

36 Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, Lillie P. Bliss Bequest)

37 Cézanne: Les Grandes Baigneuses, 1898–1906 (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

38 Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907 (Museum of Modern Art, New York, Lillie P. Bliss Bequest)

39 Braque: Nude, 1907–8 (Madame Cuttoli collection)

40 Picasso: Landscape with Bridge, 1908 (National Gallery, Prague)

41 Braque: Houses at Estaque, 1908 (Rupf Foundation, Berne)

42 Picasso: Girl with a Mandolin, 1910 (private collection, New York)