Picasso Looks at Degas

By Elizabeth Cowling and Richard Kendall

With additional contributions by Cécile Godefroy, Sarah Lees, and Montse Torras

Silver Medal, 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards

“An excellent catalogue.” —Karen Rosenberg, New York Times

Best Art Books of 2010 —Bob Duggan, bigthink.com

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 the University of Edinburgh 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
310 color and 9 black-and-white illustrations
2010
ISBN 978-0-931102-86-8 (softcover)