Opening at Vieux Chalet in Gstaad, ‘Picasso Through the Lens of David Douglas Duncan’ gives a remarkable insight into the work and life of Picasso. Ceramics and paintings by the artist are presented in tandem with vintage photographs taken by the legendary photographer David Douglas Duncan during a period of unprecedented access to the artist’s studio. The works on view, created concurrently with the photographs,can be encountered as an ‘intervention’ throughout the domestic spaces of the chalet. The photographs, some of which have never beenexhibited before, give an intimate portrait of the artist at work and at home. The project has been organised in close collaboration with the artist’sson, Claude Picasso, and James Koch, Partner at Hauser & Wirth.
David Douglas Duncan was a renowned war photographer, photojournalist, and a self-described nomad. He was among the most influentialphotographers of the last century, capturing World War II, the Vietnam War, and photo essays for Life magazine which enabled him to roam the world.The resulting images filled more than 25 books, including eight on Picasso. Duncan’s first encounter with Picasso happened in February 1956 whenhe infamously rang the doorbell of La Californie, Picasso’s home in Cannes. The artist’s wife, Jacqueline, led him upstairs and he met Picasso in hisbathtub, who allowed Duncan to photograph him. From that starting point, the photographer developed a lasting friendship with Picasso over thecourse of 17 years during which time he captured an astounding visual archive of the artist’s life at La Californie.
Several of the works displayed feature bulls and bullfights, a topic of enduring fascination for Picasso. A series of aquatints are characterised by theartist’s rapid, spontaneous gestures as he assuredly rendered the poses and acrobatic movements of the torero and bull in saturated black pigment. Duncan would often shoot the artist watching the drama, heroism and violence of bullfights and, subsequently photographed Picasso ashe captured the experience back in the studio. In many of the vintage photographs, Picasso himself is the subject and is an active participant in howhe is presented. In others, the décor and plethora of objects – such as easels, brushes, books and papers strewn over surfaces – are the focus, allprovide a fascinating record of the studio and reveal his working process. Duncan himself described Picasso’s home as ‘a forbidden, painter’sparadise’.
Throughout the interior spaces of the chalet Picasso’s ceramic works are on view, revealing the remarkable scope of his creative experimentationwith a variety of techniques, forms, styles and chance, his frequent ally. In his hands, the smooth, swollen volumes of bowls and vasesmetamorphose into the outspread wings of an owl, a proud bull, faces or fauns laid down in bold, sensitive lines that fuse sculpture and painting. Theybecame objects he would revisit throughout his lifetime, often keeping them private, like ‘members of his household’. By placing Duncan’sphotographs – candidly showing Picasso painting, incising and considering his ceramic pieces – in dialogue with the subsequent works, the vieweris given a privileged insight into their genesis. The photographer deftly managed to capture and translate decisive moments, gestures or glances that would impact the work’s essence and finish.
Duncan took some 25,000 incisive images of Picasso explaining, ‘He never asked me to take a photograph. ‘You take pictures, I paint’, that wasthe division of labour. He didn’t pose for me, but he never refused a picture either, never said no.’ [1] Duncan’s lasting documentation of Picasso and his family and friends, taken over years, provides a true portrait complete with personal anecdotes and humorous scenes that he snappedwith discretion and affection. We are given glimpses into the artist’s world, both at work in his studio and at play with his children..
1) https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/mar/20/david-douglas-duncan-picasso-photographs
Picasso Through the Lens of David Douglas Duncan
3 February – 28 February 2020
Hauser & Wirth
Vieux Chalet 3780 Gstaad
