Pablo Picasso

Jean Cocteau, Paris

Ed Dermit (acquired by descent from the above)

Sotheby's, New York, 30 September 1999, lot 107

Acquired from the above sale by the present owner

Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau met in June of 1915 at one of Count Étienne de Beaumont’s infamous masked balls. A leading figure of les années folles in Paris and long standing patron of modern artists, dancers and musicians alike, Beaumont made a habit of putting together like minded souls who would help each other achieve their artistic goals. Quickly after their meeting Cocteau set about convincing Picasso to design the costumes and sets for his ballet: Parade. Scored by Erik Satie and performed by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes the ballet was elevated common entertainment into high art – due to its ground breaking approach and unusual themes the ballet was received terribly by contemporary critics and patrons alike. However, Picasso enjoyed both professional and personal success off the back of the ‘Parade debacle’. His cubist costumes and dream-like sets inspired the poet Guillaume Apollinaire to coin the word ‘surrealism’ in his program notes, long before Surrealism became an artistic phenomenon in Paris. Further to this Picasso met and subsequently married one of the dancers in the Ballet Russes: Olga Khoklova.

Cocteau and Picasso remained friends following Parade, and through their mutual love of bull-fighting and shared compulsion to always create, would enjoy each other’s company for the rest of their lives. The artists often dedicated drawings and humorous works to each other with Picasso often making fun of his close friend.