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Photograph of Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline Roque with Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Barr, Jr., 1956.
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY: Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Papers, 12.II.A |
This photograph of Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Pablo
Picasso, Jacqueline Roque, and Margaret Scolari Barr (Mrs. Alfred
H. Barr, Jr.) (left to right) was taken by Trustee and Curator of
Painting and Sculpture James Thrall Soby at La Californie, Picasso's
villa in Cannes, in July 1956. Throughout his tenure at The Museum
of Modern Art, Barr devoted a significant amount of time to studying
the work of Picasso. In 1940, the Museum held the first American
Picasso retrospective, in collaboration with The Art Institute of
Chicago, Picasso: Forty Years of His Art (MoMA Exh. #91,
November 15, 1939-January 7, 1940). The exhibition included approximately
300 works, some of which had never been exhibited before. Attendance
at the Museum peaked at approximately 15,000 visitors per week.
Barr expanded the catalogue for this exhibition and a second, updated
version, Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art, was printed in
1946. That same year, Harvard University granted Barr a Ph.D. for
his work on Picasso.
In 1956, at the time this photograph was taken, Barr was visiting
the artist in preparation for the upcoming retrospective Picasso:
75th Anniversary (MoMA Exh. #619, May 4-August 25, 1957), a
record-breaking exhibition. More than 100,000 visitors saw the exhibition
during the first month.
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