Pablo Picasso
Circus Family
1905
Scroll
Pablo Picasso
Circus Family
1905
Physical Qualities
Opaque and transparent watercolor, pen and ink, and brush and wash, Sheet: 241 × 305 mm. (9 1/2 × 12 in.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.272
This small work is surely among the most important Picasso drawings at the BMA as it is a basis for at least two monumental paintings. X-ray photographs reveal that it is the preliminary compositional sketch for the artist’s most realized painting of this period, Family of Saltimbanques, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Picasso saw this study as a summation of the themes and figural types of his circus period. Assembled in a barren landscape, these characters are at once shown in a poignant genre scene while their isolated self-absorption suggests a broader, more universal
statement on the human condition.
Picasso also expanded the image of the acrobat balancing on a ball to create the monumental composition Young Acrobat on a Ball, 1905, in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Interestingly, Picasso’s friend Guillaume Apollinaire mentioned an acrobat balancing on a ball in his poem Un fantôme de nuée (A Phantom of Clouds). It is possible that the two friends witnessed the acrobat’s act behind the scenes at the Medrano Circus.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore, by 1925
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "An Exhibition of Modern French Art," January 9-February 1, 1925, no. 86(?).
Alfred H. Barr, Jr., The Museum of Modern Art, NY, "Picasso: 75th Anniversary Exhibition," May 22-September 1957, ill. p. 25.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Picasso: A Loan Exhibition of His Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, and Illustrated Books," January 8-February 23, 1958, no. 24, ill.
M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., NY, "Picasso: An American Tribute," April 25-May 12, 1962, no. 21, ill.
Richard J. Wattenmaker, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, "Puvis de Chavannes and the Modern Tradition," October 24-November 30, 1975, no. 76.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Picasso: The Circus," April 22-July 22 2001.
Göteborgs konstmuseum, Göteborgs, Sweden, "Pablo Picasso: The Acrobat Family," August 4- November 30, 2006, no. 9, p. 130, ill. p. 50.
Schirn Kunstalle Frankfurt, "Picasso and the Stage," 20 October 2007 - 21 January 2008.
Oliver Shell, BMA, "A Circus Family: Picasso to Léger," 22 February through 17 May 2009.
Alfred H. Barr, Jr., The Museum of Modern Art, NY, "Picasso: 75th Anniversary Exhibition," May 22-September 1957, ill. p. 25.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Picasso: A Loan Exhibition of His Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, and Illustrated Books," January 8-February 23, 1958, no. 24, ill.
M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., NY, "Picasso: An American Tribute," April 25-May 12, 1962, no. 21, ill.
Richard J. Wattenmaker, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, "Puvis de Chavannes and the Modern Tradition," October 24-November 30, 1975, no. 76.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Picasso: The Circus," April 22-July 22 2001.
Göteborgs konstmuseum, Göteborgs, Sweden, "Pablo Picasso: The Acrobat Family," August 4- November 30, 2006, no. 9, p. 130, ill. p. 50.
Schirn Kunstalle Frankfurt, "Picasso and the Stage," 20 October 2007 - 21 January 2008.
Oliver Shell, BMA, "A Circus Family: Picasso to Léger," 22 February through 17 May 2009.
"Cone Collection of Baltimore, Maryland," Baltimore: Etta Cone, 1934, pl. 59.
Adelyn Breeskin, "Picasso's 'Saltimbanques' in the Cone Collection, " "The Baltimore Museum of Art News, vol. XIII, no. 3 (December 1949), pp. 1-2, ill. p. 3.
Adelyn Breeskin, "Early Picasso Drawings in the Cone Collection," "Magazine of Art," vol. XLV, no. 3 (March 1952), p. 105, ill.
Christian Zervos, "Pablo Picasso," Vol. XXII, Paris: Editions Cahiers d'Art, 1954, no. 159.
Baltimore Museum of Art Art. Cone Collection: A Handbook with a Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, cat. no. 87, page 10.
"The Cone Collection," (rev. ed.), Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1967, no. 86.
Pierre Daix and George Boudaille, "Picasso, the Blue and Rose Periods: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1900-1906," trans. by Phoebe Pool, London: Evelyn, Adams and Mackay, 1967, no. XII.18.
Jean Leymarie, "Picasso Dessins," Geneva: Editions d'Art, Albert Skira, 1967, p. 21, ill. pp. 22-23.
Theodore Reff, "Harlequins, Saltimbanques, Clowns and Fools," "Artforum," vol. X, no. 2 (October 1971), fig. 6.
Denys Sutton and Paolo Lecaldano, "The Complete Paintings of Picasso: Blue and Rose Periods," London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Ltd., 1971, pl. xxxv, no. 180, ill.
Victor I. Carlson, "Picasso: Drawings and Watercolors, 1899-1907 in the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1976, cat. 13.
Carlson, Victor I., Picasso: Drawings and Watercolors, 1899-1907 in the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art, BMA, 1976, cat. 13.
The International Review published by The Drawing Society, Vol. XVII, No.1, May - June 1995, p.2, ill.
P.I. Maltbie, 'Picasso and Minou.' Watertown: Charlesbridge, 2005, p. 32, ill.
Dominique Dupuis-Labbe and Maria Terea Ocana, "Picasso et le cirque," exh cat. Musee Picasso, Barcelona, and Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, 2006-2007, fig.1, p. 11 (not in exh).
"Circus Programs," BMA Today, Spring 2009, p. 6, ill.
Phillip Earenfight, ed., "Picasso and the Circus," exh. cat., The Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, 2011, fig. 42, p. 50.
Thomas Kellein, and David Riedel. Picasso 1905 in Paris. München: Hirmer Verlag, 2011. Print. Page 93
Fillion, Susan. Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel: Bringing Matisse to America. Boston: David R. Godine, 2011, page 35.
Inscribed: Recto: "Picasso" in black ink at bottom right
