John Richardson - A Life of Picasso

This book is greatly indebted to Mrs. Sid Bass, who was instrumental in setting up the John Richardson Fund for Picasso Research, without which the authors ongoing biography of the artist would have foundered for lack of financial support. Mercedes has been tireless in persuading her friends, fellow collectors, and other art world luminaries to contribute to the considerable costs of the project: four years of intensive research on both sides of the Atlantic as well as substantial copyright fees, photographic work, and other office and travel expenses.

Besides expressing his gratitude to Mrs. Bass, the author would like to thank the generous donors whose names are listed below, especially Eugene Victor Thaw, who came up with the idea for the Fund. He is likewise beholden to Jerl Surratt, for supervising the fund-raising, and the Funds advisory board: Bernard and Almine Picasso, Annette de la Renta, John Russell, E. V. Thaw, and Nicholas Fox Weber (director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, through which the Richardson Funds assets have been funneled).

My deepest thanks to all those listed below:

Acquavella Contemporary Art, Inc.

The Annenberg Foundation

Anonymous

The late Mrs. Vincent Astor

Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation

Mercedes and Sid R. Bass

Leon D. Black, The Leon Black Family

Foundation The late Bill Blass Robert Mnuchin, C&M Arts Mr. and Mrs. Gustavo A. Cisneros Douglas S. Cramer Foundation The Nathan Cummings Foundation Michel and Hlne David-Weill

Dame Vivien Duffield, The Clore

Foundation The Charles Engelhard Foundation Mica Ertegn and the late Ahmet

Ertegn H.RH. Princess Firyal and Lionel I.

Pincus Dr. Guido Goldman Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro Drue Heinz Trust Jorge Helft and Sylvie Robert Dr. and Mrs. Henry A. Kissinger Henry R. Kravis Foundation Jan Krugier, Jan Krugier Gallery

The Lauder Foundation, Leonard &

Evelyn Lauder Fund Ambassador and Mrs. Ronald S. Lauder Mr. and Mrs. George S. Livanos Mr. and Mrs. John L. Marion Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Marron The Richard Meier Foundation Mereville Foundation The Museum of Modern Art, Library

Committee James G. Niven

Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg Bernard Ruiz-Picasso The late Khalil Rizk David Rockefeller Ambassador and Mrs. Felix Rohatyn

Mrs. Janet Ruttenberg

Mrs. Lily Safra

Mr. and Mrs. Julio Mario Santo

Domingo Mrs. Edouard Stern Thaw Charitable Trust The Ann and Erlo Van Waveren

Foundation

Mrs. Linda Wachner

Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation

Russell and Eileen Wilkinson, The

Villore Fund

Mrs. Charles Wrightsman

Elaine and Steve Wynn

Mr. and Mrs. Ezra Zilkha

* * *

When I started on Volume I of this biography, some twenty-five years ago, Picassos widow, Jacqueline, was kind enough to give the project her blessing. She had me stay at Notre-Dame-de-Vie and let me have the run of the studios. She also answered any questions I chose to ask. As always, I am very indebted to the artists son Claude and daughter Paloma for their support. Their mother Franoise Gilot, has also been generous with inside information. Salutations, too, to the artists daughter by Marie-Thrse Walter, Maya Widmaier Picasso, and her familyher daughter Diana, who has shared her discoveries about her grandmother with me, and her son Olivier, whose Picasso Family Portraits has been a useful source of facts about the family. I would also like to acknowledge the help of General Juan Picassos family, Mara-Teresa and Luz Martnez de Ubago.

In writing this book, my greatest debt has been to Bernard Picasso, the only surviving son of Paulo, the artists son. Bernard once told me that he has only one dream in life: to honor his grandfather as best he can. With the support of his wife, Almine, and his mother, Christine, Bernard has lived up to his aspirations and, among much else, has helped to create a magnificent new museum at Mlaga, under the exceedingly effective directorship of Bernardo Laniado-Romero. To further his grandfathers renown, Bernard has held exhibitions of his holdings all over Europe and published an important series of catalogues and books. I would like to thank Bernard and Almine with all my heart for their constant encouragement and their generosity in providing this book with archival material vested in their foundations: Collection Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, Fundacin Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte; and Archives Olga Ruiz-Picasso. Working with Bernard has been especially pleasurable thanks to his meticulous assistants, Marta Volga Guezala and Ccile Godefroy

As always, the Muse Picasso in Paris has proved an incomparable source of biographical materialmuch of it still unpublishedwhich the former director, Grard Rgnier, and his staff kindly made available to me. Heartfelt thanks also to the museums former chief curator, Hlne Kleinmost scrupulous of Picasso scholars. Grards innovative successor, Anne Baldassari, and her staff have been no less helpfulall thanks to them for being so accommodating. I also want to thank Mara Teresa Ocaa and the staff of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, and to Jean Louis Andral, director of the Muse Picasso in Antibes, for many kindnesses. Isabelle Monod Fontaine and the staff of the Centre Pompidou have also been unfailingly helpfulthank you all very much.

On this side of the Atlantic, I would like to acknowledge the award of a fellowship (2001) from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Coming as it did at the start of a seven-year venture, the fellowship had a most beneficial effect. As for the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the sheer scale of its Picasso holdings and the generosity of those in charge have been a constant inspiration. I am very grateful to the director, Glenn D. Lowry; the former chairman, Ronald Lauder; the former president, Agnes Gund; her successor, Marie-Jos Kravis. Special thanks also to Kynaston McShine and John Elderfield. At the Metropolitan Museum, my old friend the late William S. Lieberman was always ready to ransack his memory for the all-important detail. Thanks to the great director of this great museum, Philippe de Montebello, and Gary Tinterow.

Hosannas to my publisher, Sonny Mehta, the almighty head of the house of Knopf, and also to his phenomenally gifted associates. Thanks above all for taking on my Picasso project and envisioning it afresh. My editor, Shelley Wanger, treasured friend, has been heroic in keeping everything, including myself and my demons, under control in the face of incessant setbacks. For all of this, Shelley deserves canonization. As for her colleagues at Knopf, they have been wonderfully helpful, efficient, and patient: to Andy Hughes, Katherine Hourigan, Carol Devine Carson, Peter Andersen, Ken Schneider, Kevin Bourke, Erinn Hartman, Romo Enriquez, and, especially, Robert Grover, heartfelt thanks.