early years: drawing and the human figure

Throughout their careers, both Degas and Picasso focused primarily on the human figure, an obsession that had its roots in the artists' early education. Separated by almost half a century, they began their training by drawing from posed models and copying great figurative art from the past. Degas quickly rebelled against this system and embarked on a long study tour of Italy. Picasso, who revealed outstanding talent as a child and was directed by his art-teacher father, also turned away from academic practices. In their different circumstances, portraiture allowed both artists to progress from traditional approaches to more modern imagery taken from their own surroundings. In Barcelona, the teenage Picasso also mixed with radical Catalan artists who had visited Paris and seen the work of the Impressionists, including Degas. By 1900, Picasso's own pictures showed these contemporary influences, along with traces of Art Nouveau and other styles.

Picasso Looks at Degas

By Elizabeth Cowling and Richard Kendall
With additional contributions by Cécile Godefroy, Sarah Lees, and Montse Torras

The great Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) exhibited a lifelong fascination—some might say "obsession"—with the work and personality of French artist Edgar Degas (1834–1917). In this groundbreaking study, noted Degas scholar Richard Kendall and Picasso expert Elizabeth Cowling present well-documented instances of Picasso's direct responses to Degas's work, as well as more conceptual and challenging affinities between their oeuvres. Richly illustrated essays explore the artists' parallel interests in subjects including modern urban life, ballet dancers, and intimate activities such as bathing, as well as in the mediums of photography and sculpture. The book also provides the first extended analysis of Picasso's engagement with Degas's art in his final years, when he acquired several of the French artist's brothel monotypes and reworked some of them in his own prints. Offering many fresh ideas and a significant amount of new material about two of the most popular and influential artists of the modern era, this handsome book promises to make a lasting contribution to the literature on both artists.

Elizabeth Cowling is Professor Emeritus of History of Art at Edinburgh University, and an independent scholar and exhibition curator. Richard Kendall is Curator-at-Large at the Clark, as well as an independent scholar and exhibition curator. Cécile Godefroy is a researcher at the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte in Madrid. Sarah Lees is Associate Curator of European Art at the Clark. Montse Torras is Exhibitions Coordinator at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona.

368 pages, 11 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches
310 color and 9 black-and-white illustrations
2010
Published by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
and the Museu Picasso, Barcelona
ISBN 978-0-300-13412-4
ISBN 978-0-931102-86-8