[The previously unseen collection, to go on display in Paris,
shows how the artist taught the five-year-old to master figures,
animals and birds]
[[link removed]]

FOUND: THE ‘HOW TO DRAW’ BOOKS PABLO PICASSO CREATED FOR HIS
DAUGHTER  
[[link removed]]


 

Dalya Alberge
June 11, 2022
The Guardian
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The previously unseen collection, to go on display in Paris, shows
how the artist taught the five-year-old to master figures, animals and
birds _

A detail from one of Picasso’s sketchbooks for his daughter., Marc
Domage/© Private collection

 

They are the ultimate “how to draw” books for a young child,
created by a doting dad who just happened to be one of the greatest
artists of the 20th century. The granddaughter of Pablo Picasso
[[link removed]] has
discovered an extraordinary collection of sketchbooks used by the
artist to teach his eldest daughter to draw and colour.

Picasso filled the pages with playful scenes – animals, birds,
clowns, acrobats, horses and doves – which would delight any child,
as well as adults.

He created them for Maya Ruiz-Picasso when she was aged between five
and seven. On some pages, the little girl made impressive attempts to
imitate the master. She also graded her father’s work, scribbling
the number “10” on a circus scene, to show her approval.

He drew two charming images of a fox longing for grapes – inspired
by the 17th-century fabulist Jean de La Fontaine’s sour grapes
fable, _The Fox and the Grapes_ – and Maya coloured in one of
them. He also drew simple but beautiful eagles in a single movement,
without raising the pencil from the paper, conveying his love of form
and pure line to her.

The previously unseen collection includes exquisite origami sculptures
of birds that he brought to life for Maya from exhibition invitation
cards.

His granddaughter, Diana Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso, found the works by
chance while looking through family material in storage. Intrigued,
she showed them to her mother, now 86, for whom memories came flooding
back.

Pablo Picasso with his daughter Maya, right, and the French actress
Véra Clouzot at a Cannes art exhibition in 1955. Photograph: Bettmann
Archive

Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso told the _Observer_: “She said, ‘Of course,
those are my sketchbooks when I was little’. We tend to be very
visual in the family so immediately she was plunged into that time. It
was a very moving moment, not only because you’re talking about one
of the greatest artists but also because it made it very human. I was
excited. Then I was moved.”

Picasso, who died in 1973, had been taught to draw by his father, a
professor of drawing, “so that was something natural for him to
do” with Maya, his granddaughter said: “There’s a beautiful page
where he’s drawing a bowl and she’s drawing a bowl.

“Sometimes she’s making an image and he’s doing another, showing
her the right way to do it. Sometimes they would depict different
scenes. Other times, he would draw a dog or a hat. Sometimes he’s
using the whole page to draw one particular thing. Other times, he’s
depicting certain scenes, scenes of the circus. It’s very
interesting.”

Maya particularly remembers that, during the second world war, colour
pencils and notebooks were in short supply: “That’s probably why
my father wrote in my exercise books and coloured with my pencils. I
still have fond memories of those moments when we met up in the
kitchen to draw together. It was the only place in the apartment where
it was warm.”

A page from a Pablo Picasso sketchbook discovered by his
granddaughter. Photograph: Marc Domage © Private collection

Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso is an art historian, curator and jewellery
designer, who has just published her latest book, _Picasso Sorcier
[[link removed]]_,
exploring his superstitions and belief in magic.

She described the discovery of the sketchbooks as “fortuitous”
because she was co-curating a major exhibition for the Musée
Picasso-Paris on his close bond with his first daughter, born of his
passionate love for Marie-Thérèse Walter, whom he met in 1927 when
she was just 17 and he was 28 years her senior.

The exhibition, Maya Ruiz-Picasso, daughter of Pablo
[[link removed]], runs
until 31 December and includes his many portraits of Maya, personal
possessions and photographs, along with the sketchbooks and origami
sculptures, which are being shown for the first time.

Whether the origami birds were made from invitation cards for his own
exhibitions is unclear. The granddaughter said: “I didn’t want to
open his work.”

In the exhibition’s accompanying book, she writes: “Who has never
heard it said when looking at a canvas by Picasso, ‘A child could
have done that!’ Many of the artistic revolutions of the 20th
century were greeted with mockery and scandal, it is true, but in
Picasso’s case there is a hint of truth in that judgment. As Maya,
his first daughter, recalls, ‘the mystery of life, and therefore of
childhood, always filled that father of mine with interest’.”

An origami bird made by Pablo Picasso for his daughter from exhibition
invitation cards. Photograph: Adam Rzepka © Private collection

She adds: “Seeking a pictorial language that would break with the
exhausted codes of academic realism, Picasso borrowed extensively from
the unruly lines of children’s drawings. Where Van Gogh, Gauguin and
Matisse concentrated on the graphic and pictorial naivety with which
children draw, Picasso emphasised more the elements that upset
figurative traditions, that is to say, distortion and deformity.”

Didier Ottinger, deputy director of the Musée national d’art
moderne, Centre Pompidou, is currently staging a Picasso exhibition at
the National Gallery of Victoria
[[link removed]],
Australia, a collaboration with the Musée Picasso-Paris. Noting that
these sketchbooks reflect the artist’s fascination with childhood,
he said: “Who learned from who?”

DALYA ALBERGE is a UK based freelance journalist writing on arts and
entertainment.  Her work has appear on CNN, The Guardian, Daily Mail,
Financial Times, MSN, MSN Australia, MSN Canada, MSN South Africa, MSN
UK, the Independent and others.

Lend THE GUARDIAN a hand in 2022
We are proud to say we’re a reader-funded global news organisation,
with more than 1.5 million supporters in 180 countries. This vital
support keeps us fiercely independent, free from shareholders or a
billionaire owner. It means we can keep our quality reporting open for
everyone to read. We do this because we believe in information
equality, and we know not everyone is in a position to pay for news.
But if you are, we need you. You can make an investment in Guardian
journalism today, so millions more can benefit from reliable
information on the events shaping our world. Support the Guardian from
as little as $1 [[link removed]]. Thank
you.

* Pablo Picasso
[[link removed]]
* drawing
[[link removed]]
* exhibition
[[link removed]]
* children
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]