This lovely Picasso, Femme au chapeau (circa 1955), is courtesy of a Picasso lover and aspiring collector, who writes, “Just to give you a bit more background from my end, my wife is a sculptor and we obviously have a shared interest in art. I’ve become fascinated by Picasso over the years, and owning a print has been a longstanding ambition.
“There’s also a family connection – my father and a friend spent a week with Picasso in the south of France in (I believe) 1955. As I understand it, the friend (Ernest Asher) knew Picasso – he may have been his dentist. As my father told it, they got on very well; my father (then and later) didn’t understand and had no interest in Picasso’s art, and my sense is that by this time Picasso may have been relieved to spend time with someone who wasn’t a fan! My father brought back a number of photos…. My Dad is the one with dark hair; Ernest Asher has the Picasso original on his stomach; and the child on the seesaw is Paloma…. Picasso gave my father the [ceramic] plate, which I’ve inherited…shown on display in another of the photographs.”
What would you have done if this fate befell your belly? I fear I could never have bathed again for the rest of my life! Nor removed Paloma’s float from my neck, as it crowns the portrait with a hat. Maybe it’s good I never had a chance to meet Picasso—for hygiene’s sake….