Picasso & Les Femmes d'Alger

Abstract

Picasso's study of the old masters forms a focus of his late work. At the beginning of this new interest stood the works series "Les Femmes d'Alger", which was on view in Paris, Munich, Cologne, and Hamburg in 1955, and which today is scattered across several continents. The volume presents the series within the context of its reference works by Delacroix and Matisse. Picasso was 73 years of age during the winter when he created the ensemble of fifteen oil paintings, over 100 drawings and lithographs during his study of Eugène Delacroix's "The Women of Algier in their Apartment" (1834, 1849) and works by Henri Matisse like "Odalisque with Red Trousers" (1924/25) within the space of just three months. This illustrated volume will not only present the cycle together with the reference works and their reception, but also an extract from Leo Steinberg's famous essay "The Algerian Women and Picasso At Large" from 1972. In addition, the book also examines the reception of the series in Algeria.