In the summer of 1921, on the west wall of his improvised garage studio in Fontainebleau, France, Pablo Picasso painted two large-scale and astonishingly different-looking pictures side by side. On the left hung his classicizing Three Women at the Spring, long associated with the “return to order” in the aftermath of World War I. To its right Picasso worked on one of two versions of Three Musicians, often described as the culmination of his prewar cubist style. The visual dissonance of this pairing still has the ability to shock. Yet a close look at Picasso’s handling of materials, studio installations, and fluid understanding of style reveals that these two seemingly incompatible works have more in common than meets the eye, as do other monumental works on canvas, small paintings, line drawings, etchings, and pastels that the artist created in Fontainebleau during his brief three-month residency there.

 

Published to accompany an exhibition that reunites Three Women at the Spring and Three Musicians with the richly varied body of work that emerged at the same time, Picasso in Fontainebleau includes never-before-seen photographs and archival documents as well as copious reproductions of the artist’s paintings and works on paper. An introduction by curator Anne Umland, together with fifteen essays co-authored by art historians and conservators focusing on distinct groupings of works, give the reader both a sweeping overview of this remarkably productive moment in Picasso’s creative trajectory and a deep dive into the compelling artworks he produced during his summer in Fontainebleau. 224 pp.; 239 illus.