Pablo Picasso
Self-Portrait (Bonjour Mlle Cone)
1906
Scroll
Pablo Picasso
Self-Portrait (Bonjour Mlle Cone)
1906
Physical Qualities
Pen and brown ink, Sheet: 211 × 139 mm. (8 5/16 × 5 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.12.481
In 1907, after an active period of buying Picasso's early drawings and prints, the Cones ceased purchased his works and did not resume until 1922. Following a long stay in Europe from 1904 to 1907, Etta returned to Baltimore. Picasso gave this little sketch to Gertrude Stein to be included in a letter to Etta. Hat in hand, he clearly missed his patron. In spite of Claribel's more dominant personality, Picasso chose to call the sisters "the Miss Etta Cones," for it was Etta who visited his studio often in the company of Gertrude Stein.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore, by gift; from the artist, Paris, 1908
Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris
Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore
The Museum of Modern Art, "Four Americans in Paris: The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1970, pp. 77.
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. 46.
The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland, 1830-1934. [Baltimore, MD]: [Walters Art Gallery], 1984, plate 86, page 49.
The International Review published by The Drawing Society, Vol. XVII, No.1, May - June 1995, p.3, ill.
Zorzi, Rosella Mamoli. Before Peggy Guggenheim. Venezia: Marsilio, 2001, fig. 2.
Gabriel, Mary. The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone. [Baltimore, MD]: Bancroft Press, 2002, unpaged plate section.
Karen Levitov, "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore," New York: The Jewish Museum, 2011, pp. 32, 77, pl. 8, ill.
Fillion, Susan. Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel: Bringing Matisse to America. Boston: David R. Godine, 2011, page 16.
Inscribed: across top in black ink: "Bonjour Mlle Cone"
