Dice, Packet of Cigarettes, and Visiting-Card

Pablo Picasso Spanish

Not on view

Calling cards displaying the name of the artist or that of a notable peer are featured in many trompe l’oeil still lifes. Following suit, Picasso included the actual engraved cards of his patrons Gertrude Stein and André Level. A bent corner signified that the owner had delivered it personally; though here, the corners are simply not there: Picasso cut them off and drew in duplicitous doubles. The conjoined dice may allude to Stein’s intimate relationship with Alice B. Toklas, one stated openly on their shared card. As to Level, he headed the consortium of investors that sold Picasso’s painting Family of Saltimbanques (1905) at auction in 1914 for a staggering sum, creating a whole new market for Picasso and modern art.

Dice, Packet of Cigarettes, and Visiting-Card, Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France), Cut-and-pasted laid and wove papers, charcoal, graphite, printed commercial label, and printed calling card on laid paper

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Courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Collection, Yale Collection of American Literature