First exhibition and first great New York success
By 1930 Dudensing was eager to present the first Picasso exhibition at the Valentine Gallery now located at 69 East 57th Street. Abstractions by Picasso opened in early January 1931 with works dating from 1914 to 1930 and is probably one of the gallery’s most notable exhibitions. In making the initial arrangements for the show, Matisse visited Picasso in April 1930 and reported that the artist was enthusiastic about the exhibition and promised to lend pictures.[i] Prior to the show’s opening, Dudensing ran a full-page ad in the December 20, 1930 issue of Art News. He chose to feature images of what many considered to be the most challenging works, the so-called “bone” paintings of 1929-30. Under the heading “Abstractions by Picasso at Valentine Galleries: Important 1931 Exhibit,” the copy read: “Beginning January 5th, 1931, the Valentine Galleries will have the distinction of exhibiting twenty paintings by that artistically emotional genius Picasso—many of which have never before been publicly shown either in Europe or America.”[ii]
Ultimately the exhibition featured twenty-three paintings: two Cubist still lifes (Z.IIb,531 and unidentified); a 1921 figurative pastel (Z.IV,258); eight still lifes from 1922-29 (Z.IV,418; Z.IV,422; likely Z.V,68; Z.V,88; Z.V,91; Z.V,243; Z.V,268; Z.VII,75); a 1927 Harlequin (Z.VII,80); two examples of the “Dinard bathers” from 1928-29 (Z.VII,211; Z.VII,213); and, the most attention-getting of the group, nine paintings from 1929-30 (Z.VII,252; Z.VII,298; Z.VII,299; Z.VII,300; Z.VII,302; Z.VII,303; Z.VII,304; Z.VII.305; Z.VII,420). The latter were inspired by the artist’s fascination with bones and were unlike anything anyone had seen before.[iii] Despite their relatively modest size—almost all works in this series were painted on wood panels measuring 28 x 15 inches—they had the greatest impact on the critics who struggled to describe them.
[i] Pierre Matisse to Valentine Dudensing, April 15, 1930, Pierre Matisse Gallery Archives, MA5020, Box 89, Folder 32, Department of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, N.Y. In the end, the artist did not lend anything to the show; Mrs. E. H. Harriman, mother-in-law of dealer Marie Harriman, loaned one work while others came from Knoedler Gallery and Dudensing’s stock. Knoedler Gallery sales book 13, 1927 January-1936 December 1 volume, p. 215, M. Knoedler & Co. records, approximately 1848-1971. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2012.M.54).
[ii] The Art News (December 20, 1930), 29.
[iii] John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, Vol. III. The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), 391.
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