Picasso sketchbook exhibition in New York shows Spanish artist’s inspirations, dedication, and how his artworks developed
- The sketchbooks contain self-portraits, diagrams and sketches showing how Spanish artist Picasso refined his artworks
- The exhibition, Picasso: 14 Sketchbooks, covers the period from 1900 to 1959, and is being held at New York’s Pace Gallery until December 22
He was a giant of 20th-century art, but that doesn’t mean Pablo Picasso needed a big canvas.
Matchbook covers, postcards, restaurant napkins – they all served as makeshift sketchpads for the artist at moments of inspiration.
It is not surprising that some of Picasso’s sketchpads were smaller than, say, a compact disc cover – like the tiny one now on display at Manhattan’s Pace Gallery as part of “Picasso: 14 Sketchbooks”, an exhibition marking 50 years since the artist’s death.
A complete self-portrait in pencil peeks out, with deep and piercing eyes. It was 1918 and Picasso, then in his mid-30s, had just married ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova.
During a summer in balmy Biarritz, he painted on canvas but also kept this tiny notebook, filling it with scenes of their villa, the beach and the town, and sketches of coming paintings.