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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1951.56
People
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish (Malaga, Spain 1881 - 1973 Mougins, France)
Title
The Blind Man
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Mendiant
Former Title: The Blind Beggar
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1903
Culture
Spanish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297470

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor on cream wove paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions
53.9 x 35.8 cm (21 1/4 x 14 1/8 in.)
framed: 77 x 59 cm (30 5/16 x 23 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l. r.: Picasso 19[03]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Possibly Alfred Fletcheim, Düsseldorf. [1] Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Paris.[2] Paul Schüler, Bochum.[3] [Galerie Jean Aron, Paris] sold; to [Galerie Pierre, Paris], 1930, sold; to [René Gimpel, Paris], sold; to Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, 1930,[4] by exchange; to Edouard Jonas, New York, 1936, sold; through [Knoedler & Co., New York, NY] to F. Valentine Dudensing & Valentine Gallery, New York.[5] Sold; to Maurice Wertheim, New York, 1936, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1951.

[1] Listed as "Sammlung Fletcheim" in 1913 publication. Hildebrandt, H. "Die Fruhbilder Picassos" in Kunst und Künstler: illustrierte Monatsschrift für bildende Kunst und Kunstgewerbe XI (1913): 337. No illustration.
[2] Credited as "Foto Simon" in Elseviers Geïllustreerd Maandschrift. Jaargang 35 (1925): pl. LXII. Kahnweiler renamed his gallery "Gallery Simon" in 1921 when he returned to Paris from exile.
[3] Listed as "Sammlung Schüler, Bochum" in 1927 publication. Illustrierte Zeitung (November 1927): 738.
[4] Featured in a 1930 exhibition review of a show at Galerie Jean Aron in Paris which notes the work was recently acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art. Documents: Archéologie, Beaux-Arts, Ethnographie, Variété, Vol. 2, (1930): 303. Sales through Galerie Pierre and Galerie Gimpel derived from a letter between William Hutton, Senior Curator of the Toledo Museum of Art, and Margaret P. Morgan in the Fogg Museum's Print Department, dated August 31, 1978, housed in curatorial files.
[5] Knoedler Stock Book 8, Page 152, Row 19, Stock No. A1637

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest from the Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
Copyright
© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1951
Object Number
1951.56
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Editions Cahiers d'art (Paris, 1932-1978), vol. 1, no. 172, pl. 81
  • Alfred M. Frankfurter, "Today's Collectors: Modern Milestones", Art News (June 1946), vol. XLV, no. 4, repr. in b/w p. 31
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX, 1962), p. 40, pl. 15
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, brochure, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1970), checklist no. 16
  • Gary Tinterow, Master Drawings by Picasso, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, Mass., 1981), p. 250
  • John O'Brian, Degas to Matisse: the Maurice Wertheim Collection, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Fogg Art Museum (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, 1988), no. 25, pp. 109-111, repr. p. 110
  • John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, Random House (New York, NY, 1991), vol. 1, repr. p. 277
  • Norman Mailer, Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man: An Interpretive Biography, Atlantic Monthly Press (New York, 1995), ill. p. 76
  • Sarah Symmons, Goya, Phaidon (London, England, 1998), p. 325, fig. 209 (color)
  • Elizabeth M. Rudy, "Researching the Wertheim Collection at the Harvard Art Museums", Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals (Summer 2014), Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 301-6, p. 302
  • Annie Cohen-Solal, Un Étranger Nommé Picasso, Fayard (France, 2021), p. 3, plate section, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 06/13/1962 - 09/02/1962
  • The Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/29/1992 - 03/07/1993
  • 32Q: 1220 Wertheim, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/15/2018 - 06/11/2018

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu