Picasso

Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, was an avid collector and supporter of Picasso. The two became friends after being introduced by photographer Edward Steichen. The Hirshorn Library’s copy of Picasso, by art critic Jean Cassou, is inscribed in ink by Picasso on the half-title, “Pour Joe Hirshhorn, son ami Picasso, le 25-7-69,” and includes a full-page original Picasso sketch of a bearded man with curly hair and a wavy hat. An acquisition note is handwritten in pencil on the gutter of the verso of the title page, “5-26-95 Olga [Hirshhorn] gift.” Art critic Jean Cassou’s French-language monograph on Picasso’s work features numerous black-and-white illustrations, along with 16 color plates. The Hirshhorn copy is imperfect: the color plate for "Nature morte au pichet jaune" is missing, although the captioned leaf (pages 41-42) is still present. The binding is the publisher’s gray paperboard with the title printed in red on the front cover.