Picasso; Forty Years of His Art

Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, was an avid collector and supporter of Pablo Picasso. The two became friends after being introduced by photographer Edward Steichen.

The Hirshhorn Library’s copy of the exhibition catalog Picasso: Forty Years of His Art has an inscription by Picasso: "Pour Joe [Hirshhorn], Picasso, 25-7-69," which is accompanied by an original Picasso doodle of a face. Hirshhorn’s personal bookplate can be found inside the front cover. An acquisition note is handwritten in pencil on the gutter of the verso of the title page: "4-13-95 Olga [Hirshhorn] gift."

The catalog features work from Picasso’s large retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1939, the most comprehensive presentation of Picasso’s work to have ever been shown at that time. The exhibit catalog was edited by Alfred H. Barr Jr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art, and includes two statements from Picasso. The Hirshhorn's copy has the publisher's gilt-stamped red cloth binding.