Olivier Berggruen – författare

Picasso: Seven Decades of Drawing surveys Pablo Picasso's prodigious career as a draftsman, including over 40 examples on loan from private collections spanning nearly 70 years of the artist's long and cele-brated career. The book showcases drawings in a wide range of media, from works in charcoal and crayon to coloured pencil, collage or papiers colles, graphite, gouache, ink, pastel, and watercolour. Some of the drawings on loan are rarely on view and they provide insight into the evolution of his iconic paintings, such as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Guernica, while others stand alone as virtuoso, independent works, highlighting Picasso's mastery of line, form, and medium. The book ultimately examines how drawing serves as the vital thread connecting all of Picasso's art.

This is the first book dedicated to the work of Swiss-based artist Harumi Klossowska de Rola (b. 1973), which accompanies an exhibition. The book is filled with her iconic designs of bronze sculptures, screens, and benches, as well as examples of haute joaillerie, sketches, and items from her family s collection of decorative arts and antiques. Art has always been a part of Klossowska de Rola s life since the time she spent at Villa Medici, the residence of the French Academy in Rome, with her father, the celebrated artist Balthus, and her mother, Setsuko Ideta, a Japanese sculptor and artist. Her multicultural roots, alongside the creative aura of her family, endowed her with a sharp sensitiveness toward the ephemeral and the fleeting. She draws inspiration from various sources including nature (wild animals, plants, and trees); Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology; African art; and Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi. Klossowska de Rola currently lives and works at the Grand Chalet de Rossiniere, the largest chalet in Europe, near Gstaad, Switzerland. Beyond the environs is a menagerie of wild creatures that find sanctuary in their surroundings. For her large-scale sculptures, Klossowska de Rola begins sketching and molds them into form in clay, then they are sent to the foundry of skilled craftsmen in France and Switzerland. She then finishes them with touches of patina and final details in her studio. In addition to bronze, she often works with organic materials such as wood, alabaster, and stone.