Pablo PICASSO - Signed autograph letter to Jean COCTEAU. Exceptional document

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Pablo PICASSO - Signed autograph letter to Jean COCTEAU. Exceptional document:
$20527.20

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On our shop, website, you will find autograph letters and manuscripts of those who made the glory of the Arts, Literature, History and Science during centuries past.

Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973)

Signed autograph letter to Jean Cocteau.

A large in-8° page in brown ink.
Rome. Hotel de Russie. April 24, 1917.

"I found a museum in Rome (full of black sculptures) that nobody knew about here. »

Staying in Rome for ballet preparations Parade -Written by Jean Cocteau -Picasso rejoices with his friend in the Italian dolce vita and "black sculptures" discovered in a museum in the Eternal City.

"My dear John, I am back in Rome. I walk all day in the sun. Men work. I found a museum in Rome (full of black sculptures) that nobody knew about here. Write to me as you’ve done so far. Good on you. Picasso »

Pablo Picasso first laid down his suitcases in Rome, Italy, in February 1917. Jean Cocteau had indeed asked him to accompany him to work on the ballet’s production Parade, inspired by one of his poems; Picasso being in charge of making the sets. The play was to be staged by Serge de Diaghilev's Ballets Russes whose company was in Rome.

This Italian journey (Rome, Naples, Pompeii) was an initiatory journey for Picasso who, in addition to the "black sculptures" mentioned here, discovered, fascinated, the works of the Italian Renaissance in situ that inspired him a monumental painting : The stage curtain of Parade, true visual signature of the ballet, marking the beginnings of its neoclassical period (work now preserved Centre Pompidou).

It was also in this same city of Rome that Picasso discovered artist Olga Khokhlova reprising Félicita’s role in Piazza Venezia’s studios. Seduced by her beauty, the artist undertook an assiduous court with her who became his wife in July 1918.

Finally, it should be noted that Picasso had made a few days earlier, in Rome, on Easter Sunday 1917, the portrait of his friend Cocteau (also kept at the Centre Pompidou).

Provenance: Angel Teodori collection, then private collection.

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