how can any artist, any painter, see a major picasso exhibition and fail to be deeply changed & moved? the impact of picasso black and white, which we saw in early december at the guggenheim in nyc, is just now beginning to hit me full force.
we had the good fortune of being guests at the apartment of good friends, just 4 or 5 blocks from the guggenheim during that period. so every day we had the luxury of walking to the museum and spending hours at the exhibition; something we couldn't have done otherwise. i made a series of small drawings in colored pencil, which allowed me to get the paintings on a much deeper, more visceral level than if i had simply been looking passively at them.
just a few minutes ago, i opened the beautiful catalogue and saw, on the opening page, that indescribable gaze. the photo was shot by herbert list in paris in 1948.