Index Magazine

Art Talk: Feeling Funny—Picasso in 1918

March 18, 2021
Index Magazine

Art Talk: Feeling Funny—Picasso in 1918

This drawing depicts a male figure with a pointed hat and an oversized suit with a large circular collar. His hands are folded, and he is leaning backward. calmly folding his hands and leaning backward. He looks toward the left of the picture.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish, Pierrot, 1918. Graphite on off-white wove paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs, 1965.317. © Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Pablo Picasso’s Pierrot from 1918 is a product of the artist’s infatuation with the commedia dell’arte. Discussing the work in the context of Picasso’s collaboration with the Ballets Russes and his sojourn in Italy at the end of World War I, curator Joachim Homann reflects on the power of this drawing to capture the spirit of its time—and its resonance today.

Led by:
Joachim Homann, Maida and George Abrams Curator of Drawings, Division of European and American Art

Works explored:
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish, Pierrot, 1918. Graphite on off-white wove paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs, 1965.317. © Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish, Head of a Man with a Hat, 1912. Papier collé. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Virginia Deknatel in memory of Frederick B. Deknatel, 1979.18. © Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish, The Bathers, 1918. Graphite on cream wove paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Paul J. Sachs, Class of 1900: A testimonial to my friend W. G. Russell Allen, 1965.319. © Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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