I WISH YOU WERE HERE

WISH YOU WERE HERE

- PABLO PICASSO-

POSTCARDS

A=ALBEIRO

P= PICASSO

1A Introduction

Dear Mr Picasso, I’m writing to you firstly because I’m doing a project at The University of Greenwich where I’m studying Graphic Design in London. My name is Albeiro Rojas Tomedes, I’m Colombian. The project I’m doing is called “Wish you were here”. Secondly, I’m writing to you because in this project I had to choose an artist and write postcards, and I chose the best: that is you. I hope, Mr Picasso, that you like the idea of sharing your work and a bit of your life telling me about it in your postcards. I’d be really excited to hear from you the amazing story of your life. I would like to know about your early life. The postcard I’m sending you is “Manzana” which I drew in London. I really like drawing and painting fruits, nature’s colours are completely amazing. I’ve been interested in art since I was young. I got a degree in Advertising in Colombia and have studied Fine Art. I really love art in general. I used to do acting and in the same period I painted a lot. Best wishes, ART. (Albeiro Rojas Tomedes)

Manzana
Pencil on paper 42x29.5cm

1P Early Life

Dear Albeiro, It was very nice to get your postcard. I also started to draw and paint when I was very young and lived in Malaga. I was born on the 25th of October 1881 in Malaga, Spain and my real name is Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios and Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad. To give a child multiple names was a regional custom and my parents were Don Jose Ruiz Blasco y Maria Picasso Lopez. My father was an artist and he loved bull fights and these also fascinated me. They were an early inspiration for my work, when I also studied the usual thing that artists trained themselves in, like figure studies based on plaster casts. I do hope that you continue with your art. I really like “Apple”, your drawing. Actually I like apples, anyway; just keep working hard - you are doing well.
With best wishes, Pablo Picasso.

P.S. Thank you for the “Apple” - it looks delicious. I would like to become your pen friend. Please just call me Picasso, or Pablo if you prefer.

Portrait of the Artist’s Mother, 1896
Pastel on paper, 49.8 x 39 cm

Portrait of the Artist’s Father, 1896
Oil on canvas 42.3x30.8 cm
Self Portrait with Close – Cropped Hair
Oil on canvas, 46.5 x 31.5cm

2A Early Life
Dear Pablo, thank you for replying! You have a very long name! You could choose to be called any of them. I just have one. Your idea of taking your mother’s surname is good: I could do the same and be called just TOMEDES - I like that. This postcard from you is so beautiful. You have a nice family. Your father was a talented painter and his canvases with the birds, especially pigeons, arranged them harmoniously in his compositions. I know that pigeons were therefore among your first companions when you were very little. It was really important for your future as a painter because you paid careful attention to your father’s teaching. I know that your first word or syllable that you spoke was “‘Piz! Piz!” - like an order – meaning you wanted the “Lapiz” (Pencil!). You wanted to be like your father and draw the pigeons you saw in the trees. It is amazing knowing that you were able to draw before you could speak, and you could speak long before you were able to walk. My family is comprised of my mother Martha Lucia, mi father Anibal and I have six brothers and three sisters. It’s a big family and I have beautiful memories of my childhood with my whole family in the countryside in Colombia. The model in my postcard is my friend Fraser who is from Scotland. I met Fraser in London and we became great friends and I gave him this portrait to say thanks for being the most incredible friend I ever met in my life. I know you have some fantastic friends such Casagemas and I would like to learn about him. Wish you were here, Albeiro

Portrait of Fraser
Pencil on paper 42x29.5cm

2P School of Fine Arts

Dear Albeiro, it was good to hear from you again. As I said, my father was an artist and he taught at the school of Fine Arts and Crafts in Corunna in the very north of Spain. I spent the first ten years of my life there and my father taught me painting. When I was 11, I spent time in the School of Fine Arts in La Corunna where we had moved to. We then moved to Barcelona in 1895 when I was 14 where I did an advanced art course. I was very proud to get a gold medal in a competition in Malaga in 1897 when I was only 16. Oh, how nice to remember these old days! Your drawing of your friend Fraser is fantastic. Congratulations! Say hello to your friend from me. Best wishes, Pablo

The Barefoot Girl, 1895
Oil on canvas, 74.5 x 49.5cm

3A

Dear Picasso, I’m having a great time at University. I’m learning many things which are important for being a good designer. I have had the opportunity of painting a real nude woman, an incredible experience, which I had to do in just 2 minutes for the first position and then 10 minutes for a second position. I tried to do my best, I know I made many mistakes but the most important thing was painting under time pressure and also having a real model and many painters at the same time. it was such an interesting experience. I really liked your latest postcard of your painting, “The Young Girls with Bare Feet”. The colours and the contrast, the expression of the girl, and knowing you did this when you were just 14 living in Corunna is amazing. Pablo, the treatment in that painting is realistic and traditional, but one can already sense the maturity of an artist who knows how to convey the gravity of an expression, the sadness in a pose. It is an incredible lesson, thanks Albeiro

Naked Woman
Charcoal on paper 59.5x84cm

3P Early Years

Dear Albeiro, My childhood was very enjoyable as I was part of a large extended family. I painted many things. A very early painting that I did at the age of 8 was of a “Picador” and I painted it in oil and wood. I kept this with me always and still have it today. I also did a pastel of my mother, Maria, which I very much liked. Like my father, I loved to draw the pigeons I saw out of my house window but also I liked to draw the mess my father kept in the house. My father used to let me paint the pigeons’ feet on his canvases! I hope you have someone who helps you with your work too! By the way the postcard you sent me is very special for me, it reminds me of some special women in my life, but I’ll tell you later about this. Best, from Pablo

Scienmce and Charity, 1897
Oil on canvas, 197x249.5cm

4A Piedras

Dear Picasso, a long time ago I used to paint on stones, My postcard shows two stones I took from the river Thames in London. London is a beautiful city with a marvellous river which I used to walk along taking stones looking at their shapes and colours, I have many at home. Well, these two are a colourful fish and a pinkish mouse painted using acrylics. Pablo, every single piece of art from you makes me feel completely in love with your art. The one with your father modelling as the doctor, as suggested by him is a master piece and very important because, when you were 16, you successfully submitted to an art exhibition in Madrid: fantastic! Well, animals, especially bulls were very important from when you were very young. You attended bullfights from when you were five or six, sitting on your father’s lap so that he would have to pay for only a single seat. Good idea! You produced a great collection of bullfight paintings and then throughout your life you would remain passionate about bullfights, which you went to see each year and which reappear constantly in your work. Dear Pablo, to be honest, I don’t really like bullfights, but your paintings of them are very rich graphic. Best, Albeiro

Fish and Mouse
Acrylic on stone 5x3x2cm

4P Early years – Bullfight
Hello again Albeiro, nice to hear from you again. I mentioned earlier that I loved going to the bullfight. I painted all the main characters of the “dance” when I was young. I loved the bright colours of the bull ring, the cheering crowds, the passion of the matadors and picadors, the heat and fury of the animal. I used to go to the bullfights with my father and we shared these moments together. It is a Spanish thing.... Kind regards, Pablo
PS: I had a pretty terrible few years in the ‘30s and I added the bull and its terrifying imagery to some of my art in that period too!
Well, I just want to say that your postcard is interesting. Using stones to paint on with nice colours and choosing these animals is completely different from the bulls.

Toros y Toreros
Illustration

5A Texturas

Dear Picasso, I really appreciate your postcards. This painting was a collage of different textures and paintings I did in Colombia. It was quite interesting, my mother liked it, and so I gave it to her. Pablo, I like to travel and meet different people from different cultures. Living in London is the first time I feel far away from home. You left home to go to Paris when you were not even 20, I know Paris is not far from Barcelona, but it was a great influence in your life. Well, at the turn of the century, Paris was by far the most important centre of the international avant-garde. Here you and many artists and writers met in cafes and studios. It would be interesting to know if your experience in Paris was to play a decisive role in your development. One of your paintings was chosen for the 1900 International Exhibition. It seems that you liked Paris and at the end you settled there in 1904. Pablo, I went to Paris once and for me this city seems like a big art gallery. Regards, Albeiro


Texture
Mixture of paintings on canvas 50x70cm

5P Paris

Albeiro, thank you so much for sharing your work with me. The postcard about texture I really am pleased to see. I think you have the makings of a graphic designer and also that you are a hidden artist! Well, my story continues. I had my first exhibition in early 1900 at Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona. Amongst my friends, it had a mixed reception and I felt I had to escape: I went to Paris. Fantastic! I found all the museums; the city was fabulous; the environment just right to create new work. I turned 20 when in Paris – it was a time marked by tragedy as my good friend Casagemas killed himself. I rented a great place – my “blue room” in Boulevard de Clichy. I’d love to tell you more, but now I must go. Best, from Pablo.

Harlequin Leaning on His Elbow, 1901
Oil on canvas, 82.8x61.3cm

6A Blue

Dear Picasso, I love the postcard with the Harlequin. It has beautiful colour, balance and contrast; I wish to paint like this. This one from me is about the great experience I am having at the University. I remember one of your paintings, “Self-Portrait with Coat” You did it in 1901/02 and in this early portrait you appear proud, even inviolable; but there is also a deep dejection in your gaze. It was painted in winter and shows a pale and emaciated 20-year-old, It seems to communicate a deep melancholy in you, your blue period, which marks the beginning of a phase of profound artistic and personal change, Am I correct? Looking at this period where you created a pictorial world entirely in shades of blue – a sad and hopeless world of those on the fringe of society, the people who could be seen in the streets and bars of any big city, beggars, and the blind, lonely and impoverished women. Did you use these motifs to create general reflections on life, sombre reflections of your personal situation? Pablo, the pictures of the Blue Period are among the most famous and at the same time most enigmatic of your work. I am sorry if you had a bad time, good luck, Albeiro

Blue
Ink on paper 21x29.5cm

6P Blue Period

Hola mi amigo! Yes, I was in my “Blue room” in Paris. What a sublime colour I found blue to be at that time. I also was making some good friends in the art world like dear Max Jacob, a poet and art critic. I moved restlessly between Paris and Barcelona, loving both cities. 1902 and 1903 were hard years – I had no money! I shared everything with Max to survive. This stoicism and melancholy permeated my work – I guess blue is a rather melancholy colour but so atmospheric and it reflected what was going on for me back then. But then I met Fernande; that is for another postcard! This blue period was a little sentimental. Chao!
Nice abstract blue postcard!
Pablo Picasso

Old Guitar-player, 1903
Oil on wood 121.3x82.5cm

7A Lilies

Dear Picasso, thank you for your words about my work. It is very important to me. I want to tell you that I have some hobbies such as cinema, photography amongst others. I used to carry my camera all the time and take pictures of things I see and I like. Once I went to the city of York in the North of England. It’s a beautiful city surrounded by a wall, full of history and rich in art everywhere. Close to this city there is a castle where I had an unforgettable day. In that place I was inspired to paint these lilies for a friend who invited me to this city. Well, Pablo, dear friend, you had another important period where new colours gradually began to appear in your paintings – a gentle rose pink, warm red tones, and other light colours “The Rose Period”. Please tell me about Fernande Olivier who seemed so important an influence this period. It seems that through her a new warmth and cheerfulness entered your life and your work, am I correct? Besides, the pictures form the so-called Rose Period sold well, and I think your financial situation must have eased. I think the summer you spent in Spain with Fernande was beautiful... You are great, regards, Albeiro

Lilies
Oil on canvas 50x70cm

7P Rose Period

Hola una vez mas Albeiro, I said last time that the years at the turn of the century were a hard time for me financially. In 1906 I got a great break! Let me tell you about it... I guess that my mood was lightering as the years went on and my palette softened as well. In those days I often used to go to the circus at Montmartre and a favourite subject to paint was the harlequins. Some of these works – Like the “At the Lapin Agile” – I used in order to pay my bill at the cafe that I frequented! By 1905 I was moving away from only the blues of that period, introducing yellow, ochre, grey, pink and rose tones. Some call this my “Rose Period”. The art dealer, Ambroise Vollard, eventually bought most of my work from this period – It solved my financial woes!! I hope life as a student is not too hard for you, my friend, I do like your beautiful lilies, and it’s an amazing painting. Un abrazo, Pablo.
P.S. You have researched my work very thoroughly, and even my private life!

Boy with a Dog, 1905
Gouache and pastel on cardboard, 57.2x41.2cn

8A Half self-portrait

Dear Pablo, I think that Cubism, a complete break with artistic tradition, was perhaps the major achievement of 20th –century art. How did you do this? After you created radically new forms with your shocking painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”, Cubism became an adventure that you and your friend Georges Braque undertook together. Amazing! You developed a completely new language of forms. Cubism freed art from the mere depiction of reality; it fragmented the visible world into the smallest particles, and then organized them in new ways. Only the motifs themselves – landscapes, portraits, and still lifes – remained from the traditional repertoire of art. You know Pablo, from the point that your work became internationally known through exhibitions, the impact of Cubism soon became widespread, and it had a direct impact on such movements as Futurism in Italy, Constructivism in Russia, and De Stijl in Holland. That’s my boy! You did it!!! Bravoooo!!! The best Albeiro.
P.S. I forgot to tell you about my postcard, but it is half of me, which means I’m not complete. I’m still looking for a great idea in art and how to develop it. Could you help me? I feel lost in some ways.

Half self-portrait
Pencil on paper 42x29.5

8P Influence of Africa

Albeiro, many people associate me with “Cubism” and I am often asked where I got my inspiration from. I remember a day in July 1907 when I went to the Musee de L’Homme, a museum in Paris dedicated to ethnic art. I was hugely impressed by the masks and sculptures of Africa which seemed magical to me. Indeed I built quite a collection of such works myself, all the way through my life. The form and shapes there instilled a freshness of form, an immediacy, a connection with a new simple form of artistic communication: cubes, rectangles, cylinders, circles. I felt energised by this art and had to put it into my evolving work. I hope I can write again to tell you more.
Your friend, Pablo xxx
PS. Nice to meet you, good portrait, I hope you like mine.

Self-portrait,1907
Oil on canvas, 50x46cm

9A Tricolor

Dear Picasso, The self-portrait from you was incredible!!! I’m really excited with the story of cubism; I would like to know about the great “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”. I read that when some friends of your saw this picture for the first time in 1907 their reaction was one of shock and incomprehension; it was not exhibited until 1916. But don’t worry about that, today it is regarded as a key work in modern art. Great!! Did you really do 800 sketches!!! ? Dear Pablo everything has been preserved and all your studies. What I think about it is that all harmony is destroyed, and space is fragmented into geometric facets. Fundamentally, the picture deals with two classical genres (the nude and the still life), but it consciously frees itself from all traditional rules of painting. Above all this work represents the struggle for a radically new language of painting, and in this it has lost none of its explosive power, even today. I hope I am right. Thank you very much for “The young Ladies of Avignon”. Best, from your friend Albeiro
Tricolor
Oil on canvas 25x60cm

9P Cubism – Les Demoiselles...
Hello again Albeiro, well, I have to continue my story about the development of “Cubism”. By the end of the summer of 1907 I decided to paint a large canvas that would end up being over 65 square feet. I made many sketches in preparation, and I had to have solitude to work. None of my friends or acquaintances was to see the work. I finished “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” at the end of 1907 having chosen female nudes as the subject. I was being daring, breaking with the normal approaches and I created a new form of expression. Amongst the five females there were two types of figures: three to the left with large, heavily outlined eyes, with the noses painted in profile though the faces were to the front. The two on the right were angular with hatching. This work separated my true friends from those who were not supportive. Matisse was angry, Braque was insulting, Apollinaire hugely critical. At least Max and my new young German friend, Henry Kahnweiler, really liked the work. Albeiro, the lesson is to persevere when you do something that is ground-breaking. Take care, mi amigo. Pablo.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
Oil on canvas, 243.9x233.7cm

10A Abstract Art
Dear Pablo, the first pieces of art I saw by you are in Bogota, Colombia. I used to go to visit Museums and I really enjoyed them. I lived in a beautiful place in the city centre where we have museums everywhere and the best thing is that most of them are free. You know Pablo that Bogota is the city in the world where good quality museums are the most concentrated together. There are great museums such as the Golden Museum, National Museum, etc. In Botero’s Museum I saw some of your work and every time I go there I enjoy it like it is my first time. In this museum there is a great collection of work by important artists like Miro, Dali, and Botero – all the great artists from Colombia. Going back to cubism, dear Picasso, when I see some of your work I think they are broken into countless fragments, the subject of a portrait or still life, then a crystalline, multi-faceted image, recognizable only from a distance. The mainly dark colours are independent of the subject, and yet they still help to convey varying moods and contribute to the characterization of the motif. This technique with organic forms, and reducing everything, is such a very difficult thing!!! Just your genius is able to produce something like that!!! I wish you were here, Albeiro

Abstract Art
Ink on paper 15x15cm

10P Development of Cubism with Braque

Albeiro, “Cubism” as it is known, developed over the following years. My friend, Georges Braque, and I studied Cezanne who died about this time. Georges and I worked in close association and he submitted to a Parisian exhibition, 6 landscapes where their geometric form was more dominant than their colour. The jury rejected two of them and Braque withdrew them all. Luckily Henry Kahnweiler liked the style and gave Georges an exhibition. This was seen as the first “cubist” exhibition. I was also experimenting with simple geometric forms in landscapes. Cezanne was an influence. According to him, “You must see in nature the cylinder, the sphere, the cone...”

Portrait of Ambroise Vollar, 1910
Oil on canvas, 93x66cm

11A Capas Abstract
Dear Picasso, the 1916 to 1925 period of your painting has been called “Neo-classicist”, which artistically and personally was marked by decisive changes in your style, according to the book I read called “Picasso” by Buchholz and Zimmermann. It would be interesting to hear from you the real story about this period of time. Seeing your paintings I can say that lines and edges now became important, and mass and physical forms were interpreted in an entirely new way. Beautiful!! In complete contrast to the fragmented Cubist works you had only recently been creating, I think by this time you were painting balanced, monumental works!!!. What you achieved was wonderful, this work is especially enthusiastic, the colours, the spatial design, your instinct working in the theatre are completely astonishing. Big Hug from Albeiro

Layering
Ink on paper 21x29cm



11P Classicist Period
Albeiro, You’re lucky that you’ve not had to live through a war. The “great war” – World War I – was a terrible time for the world and it changed me. My best friends either were called up to fight or – poor Henry – had to flee because of their birthplace. After my experimentation with cubism, I returned to a more traditional style which some call my Classicist period. My favourite works in this period are “The Lovers” and “The Pipes of Pan” as well as “The Seated Harlequin” and “Women Running on the Beach”. Unfortunately, by this time I was becoming popular!! This is a fate worse than death for an artist (at least a living one). Olga, who I forgot to say I married in 1918, could not understand how I did not like the fame!! Well, despite my problems, I do hope you get a little bit of fame one day, Albeiro. Take care, write soon, as I love seeing your work. From Pablo xx

Paul as Harlequin, 1924
Oil on canvas, 103x97.5cm

12A Tornado

Well, dear Master, it’s time for me to explore “Surrealism” with you: more amazing shapes in the work you did during the period 1925 to1934. It seems to me that you were pushed the separation of form and content even further. It was important because during these years you also came to grips with sculpture, allowing the experience you gained in that medium to flow into your paintings and drawings. Well this period is like a big leap!! You aggressively experimented in form, increasingly freeing your figures from any connection with nature. With gigantic, two-dimensional acrobats and swimmers, for example, only a few points or outlines can often be interpreted as descriptions of bodily parts – an eye, a hand, or a foot. Experimenting, that’s the thing!!! I’ll keep experimenting. These ideas with sculptural forms, were great, working intensively on new sculptures, building structures from wire and other metals as well as casting heads and figures in bronze and then you immediately transferred these new experiences to painting. Really interesting and the result, as usual, brilliant!!! Take care. From Albeiro

Tornado
Ink and charcoal on paper 21x29.5cm

12P Surrealism
Hola mi amigo, well, fame is nothing for an artist. You have to keep an independent mind to create the best works. I had to break away from popularism. From 1927 my focus changed. For one thing, I met this delicious young girl (only 17!!!) Marie-Therese Walter who was the nurse to my young son Paolo! Anyway, I started experimenting (again) and I painted Marie-Therese in 1932, as a somewhat disturbed image, in the way of Surrealism. I guess I was a little influenced by a group of artist friends in Paris. It was also a traumatic time personally: I had to go through a messy divorce with Olga. Marie-Therese gave me my second child in June 1935 – My blessed Maya. Live life fully, Albeiro xx
P.S. Your painting is very dramatic. I really appreciate you sharing your work with me.

Woman in a Red Armchair, 1932
Oil on canvas, 130x97cm

13A Cruz

Dear Pablo, I’m really glad to get your postcards, I’m very lucky becoming your friend. Life is not always easy, we all have some bad times but the most important thing is that we keep faith and everything becomes better. You had to live through two wars. Fortunately I haven’t, but we have some difficult times. Anyway, a period of violence, fear, and death had dawned. Your work during this dark period of war and social turmoil – the “Barbarian” years – seems deeply marked by political and personal catastrophes. The Spanish Civil War came to a cruel climax in the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica, and your response was probably your most famous picture, which you painted within a few weeks of the event. I would love to hear you tale of this period. What I can see in this uncertain, difficult time of war, and particularly during the occupation of France by the Germans, your style was marked by the threats and anxieties suffered by yourself and by those around you. So sorry again, big hug dear master from Albeiro

Sadness
Ink on paper 21x29.5cm

13P Barbarian Years.

Albeiro, the mid 30’s saw the rise of the repulsive fascist movement and the Spanish civil war broke out in mid ’36. I felt it was necessary for me to take my art out of the private domain to put its power to use contributing to the public debate and the cause of the Left. In 1936 I contributed work to a festival organized by a coalition of Socialists and Communists to celebrate the French revolution. I also allowed an earlier work on the theme of the Minotaur to be used as the curtain in a play. I was energised by making these political contributions, however minor. But I was outraged by the tragedy that befell Spain and my poem “Sueno y Mentira de Franco” was my protest at Franco’s tyranny. I hoped for better times. Actually, Albeiro, your postcard has a strong meaning for this time of my life - “The Barbarian Years” - but then came Guernica... Your correspondent in history, Pablo Picasso.

Weeping Woman, 1947
Oil on canvas, 60x49cm

14A Winter Garden
Dear friend, this postcard shows a drawing of the winter garden at the University. It is giving me some ideas for my next period of painting, I hope to keep in touch and I’ll tell you when I have developed what I’m thinking about.
I read the following quote by you in the book “Picasso” that I referred to earlier:
“In the wall painting on which I am working, and which I am going to call “Guernica”, and in all my latest works, I am openly declaring my revulsion against the military caste which has submerged Spain into an ocean of suffering and death”.
Dear friend, from this bad experience of the bombing of the sacred town of Guernica, on 26 April 1937, emerged a powerful image of destructive forces that threatened human life and civilization. Here you found a universally understandable way of expressing humanity’s suffering. All colour has been banished from the painting; only gray, black, and white remain, in order to emphasize the despairingly sombre mood of the scene. It could be taking place indoors or out, by day or night, it is not clear. With dramatic movements and anguished expressions, the figures collapse, fall, scream. All are victims, both human and animal.


Winter Garden
Pencil on paper 21x300cm

14P Guernica

Albeiro, history marched on: 1937 was the Universal Expo in Paris. The country Spain felt it was vital that was appropriately represented and I was honoured when the Republican Government asked me to produce a work that conveyed my true feelings about the political situation. I promised to create an immense work and my friend and nurse, Dora Maar, found me a beautiful house in the centre of Paris where I had the perfect space to work. My plans changed when I heard of the Franco-sponsored German bombing of Guernica – carried out at a time of day to inflict the greatest casualties amongst innocents. My God!! I produced my work Guernica filled with the passion and horror of that outrage. Some here called it the “greatest tragic painting of the 20th Century”. I hope you never see such horrors, my friend. You have sent me an amazing drawing, a sensational postcard, Albeiro, congratulations. Pablo xx

Guernica, 1937
Oil on canvas, 349x776.6cm

15A Cuerdas
Thanks a lot for your words, Pablo. As I told you I can’t find any words to describe my feelings when I see your paintings and I read about your life. I just I really love doing that, it makes me feel so alive. I can spend hours looking at your work or reading about you and I just do not want to stop. I went to Madrid and visited the Museum El Prado where you painted some of your work. It’s a place to go many times as is the Tate Modern and the National Gallery where I have seen some of your paintings in London.
Well, despite the restrictions imposed by war and by the Occupation, it was at this time that your fame seemed to increase enormously. Dear friend, in the USA you were celebrated as the most significant artist of the 20th century, and after the Liberation you also became, at a stroke, a public figure in France. I didn’t know dear Pablo that your lithograph of a dove, created for the World Peace Congress in Paris in 1949, became world-famous and was soon an international symbol of peace. Great!! I remember now the great picture of “Massacre in Korea”, figures like robots... armed with strange machine-guns, on the point of murdering a group of women and children. In this picture I think you have placed greater emphasis on the message of the painting than on your own artistic expression – a rare phenomenon in your work. Brilliant! All the best, from Albeiro

Dark
Wire and paper 30x30x25cm

15P Post-war influence

Interesting work, my dear Albeiro.
I lived through the liberation of Paris in 1944 but my great friend, Max, was not so lucky. As a Jew he died in a Nazi concentration camp. The horrors of war will always live with me. I felt I had to support the Communists and I joined the party in 1944 and produced several works of a political nature. Ultimately, however, it was difficult for me to work together. The work on this card, “Massacre in Korea” that you mentioned, shows yet more of the horror of war. A little later I rebuilt a 14th Century chopped in Vallaurin as a Temple of Peace within which I created two large works to depict war and peace. I hope you can see it one day. Believe it or not, I got the Lenin peace prize in 1950! Francoise Gilot was my support at this time and my youngest children, Claude and Paloma, were born. Paloma was named after the symbol of peace – the Dove. Peace to you always my friend. Pablo xx


Massacre in Korea, 1951
Oil on plywood, 109.5x209.5cm


16A Symmetry
Querido amigo, thank you for sharing some lessons and such amazing moments with me. Well, I am now turning to your later works and a time when you entered a phase of hectic productivity. I know, you were above all preoccupied with variations on the masterpieces of art history, and on the theme of artist and model. I read in “Picasso, Master and the New” by Bernadec and du Pouchet that between August and December 1957 you created many variations on “Las Meninas”, a famous painting by the Spanish court painter Diego Velazquez and also you painted variations on works by Lucas Cranach, El Greco, Delacroix, Manet, Courbet, and Poussin. The original composition, colour scheme, and meaning were freely at your disposal and you altered them greatly. You are a hard worker!!! Wow! I think it is time for you to take a rest as you have done so much hard work. I see that you moved several times – do tell me something about your great houses. Hug from Albeiro

Symmetry
Wire and paper 30x25x20cm

16P Late works

My dearest friend, I feel I am approaching the twilight years. In these times I am taking inspiration for some of the works that first inspired me. I particularly liked “Las Meninas” by Velazquez and I have latterly produced 44 works derived from this (see this postcard). His work impressed me much when I visited the Prado as a young student in Madrid. You should go. I am varying my style more. I loved the colour of the version of “the women of Algiers” that I did in 1955. I painted fourteen variation of that work by Delacroix! I have also become wealthy – fame has its material rewards. Since you asked, I’ve been lucky to find some beautiful places to live, in Cannes and near Aix-en-Provence: a Chateau where Cezanne once lived, so wild and solitary, just perfect. Lately, I managed an exhibition of 167 paintings and 45 drawings on Mayday, 1970 and I was only 88! You will also be pleased to hear that I have donated many works from my youth to the Museo Picasso in Barcelona, I hope you can visit that too! So much to do, so little time left. I must go to finish “Mother and Child”. As I often say “paintings are never finished... they usually stop when the time comes because something happens that interrupts them.” Good bye, my dearest friend, Pablo.

Las Meninas (after Velazquez), 1957
Oil on canvas, 194x260cm

17 A Abstract Art

Dear Pablo, I read this quote in the book “Picasso” by Carsten-Peter Warncke:
“One day I found a bicycle saddle in a pile of old junk, and next to it a rusty set of handlebars. Quick as a flash, the two parts fused together in my mind... Without conscious thought, the idea of this “bull’s head” came to me... “ Pablo Picasso
Dear Pablo, your thoughts are like those of the greatest art geniuses in history. Talking about your sculptural works, I think the main stages in your creative life can be traced on the basis of your sculptures alone, for you always tried to transform your basic ideas on content and design into various media, materials, and dimensions. Some people say that your sculptural works cannot be compared with your paintings and graphics; but, for me, I think they have a special place in your output because of the very emphatic and concentrated way in which they represent your artistic ideas. I would love to hear your thoughts about your work in sculpture. Best wishes, from Albeiro

My Garden
Photoshop

17P Sculpture

Hola Albeiro, I loved your latest postcard – your work shows great versatility and promise which I am sure your teachers will recognise. You are right, I should say something about my sculptures which have also been an important medium for me to work in. This postcard is “Goat” that I made in 1950 – a plaster cast with willow basket, ceramic pots, palm leaf, metal, wood and cardboard. I love combining materials and objects. My favourite was “Bull’s Skull” which I made in 1942 by fusing a bicycle saddle and handlebars together! I also worked with ceramics, and “Face (Plate)” that I did in 1963 gave me great pleasure. My sculpture, I would say, is more a fusion of painting and sculpture, like “Football Player” in 1961 which is a cut metal silhouette that I painted. You should try working in clay, Albeiro – but it can be messy! Chao, Picasso.

Nanny Goat, 1950
Plaster ( sicker basket, ceramic wre, palm leaf, metal, wood, cardboard and plaster) 120.5x72x144cm




18A Duraznera

Dear Picasso I really like the “Goat” in your latest postcard. I hope you like this one from me. Pablo I really would like to ask you about your personal life if that is not too intrusive. Please tell me just a little bit about your family as I think is women, children, family and maybe other important and close people have been an influence and an inspiration to you. Much has been written about all of this but I suspect that not very much of it is accurate! All the best from your friend Albeiro

Woman and Peaches
Oil on canvas 40x60cm

18 P My women

My dearest friend, Albeiro, since I have got to know you so well, I thought you would like this postcard which I have created for you. It is a montage of the women in my life – my “muses”. As you can see, there have been many and I have painted them all, some many times! I can only mention a few here. Fernande Olivier was my inspiration from the start of my “Rose Period”, and we were together in the early years ‘til separating in 1911. Eva (her real name was Marcelle – but I called her “Eva”) was a true love and I wrote “I love Eva” on many of my paintings of the time! Olga was a dancer and we married in 1918. I cried when she died in 1955 although we had separated in 1935. I must also mention Dora Maar – I painted her often and we were lovers for a time, from when we met in 1936. In 1943, along came Francoise Gilot – around the time the Gestapo searched my flat in Paris. ’54 was when I met Jacqueline Rogue who I married in 1961. Well you have to have fun even at the age of 80! These were some of the women, Albeiro. I hope you have as many great women in your life. Otro abrazo, tu amigo en arte, Pablo.
P.S. The charcoal drawing of the woman in the postcard you sent is masterful.

19A Still Life
I appreciated very much getting your latest postcard telling me about the fine ladies in your life. They all seem to have influenced you in different ways and of course have been central to the development of your art over the years. My painting that I am sharing with you on this postcard started in the early summer but I was not able to finish it as I fell very ill for quite a few months and was partly paralysed for a while. It therefore also has some painful memories for me. If you can, I would like to hear about the happier subject of your children and family life, as that is always so important. Very best wishes, Albeiro.

Frutas
Oil on canvas 25x60cm

19P Family

Dear Albeiro, I am sorry to hear that you were ill. There is nothing worse than being in pain – I know I have suffered emotional pain many times in my artistic career, if not physical pain. Well, one tonic is the happiness that children bring. I am lucky enough to have 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters – from 3 mothers! Paolo is my eldest son and he has made m very proud. Olga gave birth to him in 1921. Maya was then born in 1935 when my partner was Marie Therese. With Francoise, I had my second son, Claude, in 1947 and Paloma, my second daughter, was born in 1949. She keeps saying to me that her ambition is to create a perfume named after her – kids can be so crazy! I don’t know!! Paloma is the Spanish word for “Dove” and you remarked in one of your earlier postcards on the significance of the Dove in my work after the war.

Claude, Picasso, Francoise Gilot and Paloma, 1953. Photo Edward Quinn
Picasso with Children Paloma and Claude at Vallauris, 1953

20A CD
Dear Pablo, with this postcard I am including a CD which contains a video that I compiled at The University of Greenwich where I am currently studying. The video shows some of the other students on my course and I asked them for their first thoughts on the subject of “Picasso”. I thought it would be fun for you to see what they said. As you will see, there is quite a varied level of knowledge about your life and work. I am so happy that our exchange of postcards and the research I have been able to do into your life have given me such an insight into your life’s achievements. I cannot say how much that I appreciate your writing to me over this period of time. I shall miss not hearing from you in the future. I wish you the very best for the future. Sincere regards, from Albeiro.

Abstract Art
Ink on paper 15x15cm

20P CD

Dear Albeiro, it was incredible to see your fellow students and hear them talk about me. It is always a humbling experience to see how many people seem to know of my life and work. There was one large omission from your video, however – I would very much have liked to see some video of you, as I feel I have got to know you a little bit over the course of our in depth correspondence. Anyway, I will end the ramblings of an ageing artist and I have enclosed a CD of my own for you to watch. It shows some of the old footage of me at work. They are just short clips but I hope that it brings me back to life! It has been an honour and a privilege exchanging postcards and seeing your work. Your friend, in absentia, Pablo.

Picasso holding the sun in his hand
Photograph: Jacqueline Picasso