Lydia Corbett | |
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| Born | Sylvette David 14 November 1934 |
| Nationality | French and English |
Lydia Corbett (born Sylvette David, 14 November 1934) [1] is a French-English artist and former artist's model known for being "the girl with the ponytail" in Pablo Picasso's Sylvette series of paintings [2] and a 1970 sculpture.
Corbett was born Sylvette David in Paris [3] to an English mother and a French father. Her mother, Honor Gell – who was an oil painter [4] and the daughter of a vicar – moved to Normandy in the 1920s. Corbett's father was art dealer Emmanuel David. After her birth, Corbett's parents' marriage broke down, leading to her father being absent throughout much of her childhood.
In the spring of 1954, when Corbett was nineteen, she met Pablo Picasso, who was "immediately entranced" by her. [5] Picasso had a studio on Rue du Fournas in Vallauris, and Corbett – then known as Sylvette – would often walk past the artist's window en route to meet her fiancé.
A few weeks later, Corbett was chatting with friends while smoking and drinking coffee when she spotted Picasso in his studio next door, holding up one of his pictures. The picture was a simple portrait of her, executed from memory. "It was like an invitation," she later recalled, so she and her friends went to knock on his door. Picasso was so happy to see her that he embraced her immediately. "I want to paint you, paint Sylvette!" he cried. [5]
In the months that followed, between April and June, Picasso persuaded Corbett to sit for him regularly and created a series of more than 60 portraits of her in various media, including drawings and sculptures as well as 28 paintings. [6]
In the summer of 1954, the "Sylvette" series was exhibited in Paris to critical acclaim. Life magazine announced a new epoch in Picasso's art – his "Ponytail Period" – and Brigitte Bardot is said to have adopted Sylvette's style after seeing her walking along the promenade in Cannes. [7]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(January 2023) |
Corbett started drawing to pass the time while she sat for Picasso, often posed in a rocking chair. She later married and, in 1968, moved to England, signing her work with her married name to avoid capitalising on her fame as a painter's muse.[ citation needed ]
She began painting seriously, using both oil paint and watercolour, in her 40s, and has been represented by Francis Kyle Gallery since 1989. In 1991, her work was exhibited in Japan, and in 1993, a documentary film on Picasso and Corbett was shown on BBC2 to coincide with the Tate Gallery's exhibition of Picasso's paintings.[ citation needed ] Corbett's own work has also been exhibited at the Tate, and she counts the Anthony Petullo Foundation among her clients. [8]
In 2014, Corbett marked her 80th birthday with an exhibition at the Francis Kyle Gallery in London. [5]
Corbett's studio is based in Devon.[ citation needed ]
Her daughter Alice is married to the former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio. [9]
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and the anti-war painting Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.
Guernica is a large 1937 oil painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. It is one of his best-known works, regarded by many art critics as the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history. It is exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Martin Kippenberger was a German artist known for his extremely prolific output in a wide range of styles and media, superfiction as well as his provocative, jocular and hard-drinking public persona.
Henriette Theodora Markovitch, known as Dora Maar, was a French photographer, painter, and poet.
Sylvette is a large concrete sculpture created by Pablo Picasso and the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, which was erected in the city of Rotterdam in 1970. It is located on the corner of Westersingel next to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The sculpture portrays a young woman with a ponytail. The model for the sculpture was Sylvette David, whom Picasso met in 1953 when she was 19. The sculpture was produced following the creation of a series of artworks, known as the Sylvette series, that Picasso made of his muse in a variety of artistic styles.
The Chicago Picasso is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. The 1967 installation of The Picasso, "precipitated an aesthetic shift in civic and urban planning, broadening the idea of public art beyond the commemorative."
Françoise Gaime Gilot was a French painter. Gilot was an accomplished artist, notably in watercolors and ceramics, and a bestselling memoirist of the book Life with Picasso.
Nude in a Black Armchair is an oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso. Painted on 9 March 1932, a time at which Picasso lived in Boisgeloup outside Paris, it is the first and largest of a series of paintings Picasso completed that year of his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. The painting was purchased by Les Wexner at Christie's auction in 1999 for the value of $45.1 million.
The Weeping Woman is a series of oil on canvas paintings by Pablo Picasso, the last of which was created in late 1937. The paintings depict Dora Maar, Picasso's mistress and muse. The Weeping Woman paintings were produced by Picasso in response to the bombing of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War and are closely associated with the iconography in his painting Guernica. Picasso was intrigued with the subject of the weeping woman, and revisited the theme numerous times that year. The last version, created on 26 October 1937, was the most elaborate of the series, and has been housed in the collection of the Tate Modern in London since 1987. Another Weeping Woman painting created on 18 October 1937 is housed at the National Gallery of Victoria and was involved in a high-profile political art theft.
Jacqueline Picasso or Jacqueline Roque was the muse and second wife of Pablo Picasso. Their marriage lasted 12 years until his death, during which time he created over 400 portraits of her, more than any of Picasso's other lovers.
Fernande Olivier was a French artist and model known primarily for having been the model and first muse of painter Pablo Picasso, and for her written accounts of her relationship with him. Picasso painted over 60 portraits of Olivier.
Child with a Dove, also described as Child Holding a Dove, Child with a Pigeon is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, which he created in 1901 at the start of his Blue Period. The painting is a depiction of a young girl in a white dress holding a white dove, and represents an important transitional moment in the artist’s career. It was on public display at the National Gallery in London, England for nearly four decades before its private sale in 2012, when it achieved a price of £50 million.
Girl before a Mirror(French: Jeune fille devant un miroir) is an oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso, which he created in 1932. The painting is a portrait of Picasso's mistress and muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter, who is depicted standing in front of a mirror looking at her reflection. It is housed in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed, rarely known as The Imprudence of Candaules, is a 45.1 by 55.9 cm oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830. It shows a scene from the Histories by Herodotus, in which Candaules, king of Lydia, invites his bodyguard Gyges to hide in the couple's bedroom and watch his wife Nyssia undress, to prove to him her beauty. Nyssia notices Gyges spying and challenges him to either accept his own execution or to kill Candaules as a punishment. Gyges chooses to kill Candaules and take his place as king. The painting shows the moment at which Nyssia, still unaware that she is being watched by anyone other than her husband, removes the last of her clothes.
Diana Widmaier Picasso is a French art historian specialized in modern art, living in Paris.
Young Girl with a Flower Basket is a 1905 oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso from his Rose Period. The painting depicts a Parisian street girl, named "Linda", whose fate is unknown. It was painted at a key phase in Picasso's life, as he made the transition from an impoverished bohemian at the start of 1905 to a successful artist by the end of 1906. The painting is listed as one of the most expensive paintings, after achieving a price of $115 million when it was sold at Christie's on 8 May 2018. It is currently the fourth highest selling painting by Picasso.
Le Repos is an oil-on-canvas painting created by Pablo Picasso in 1932. It depicts a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, the artist's lover and muse, in a sleeping pose. The painting was produced in the midst of their relationship and is a demonstration of Picasso's love for his mistress. Le Repos was one of a series of sleeping portraits of Walter that Picasso created in 1932. On 14 May 2018, the painting achieved a value of $36.9 million when it was sold at Sotheby's auction.
Femme au Chien is an oil-on-canvas painting by Pablo Picasso, which he painted in 1962. It is a portrait of Picasso's second wife, Jacqueline Roque, and their dog Kaboul, an Afghan Greyhound. The painting is an illustration of the great affection that Picasso displayed for both of the subjects in the portrait and has elements of the cubist style that he pioneered. It was produced in Picasso's later years when the couple was living at Notre-Dame-de-Vie, near Mougins, France. On 14 May 2019, it was sold at Sotheby's auction for almost $55 million and is now housed in the collection of Wynn Fine Art in Florida.
Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée is an oil-on-canvas painting by Pablo Picasso, which he created in 1937. It is a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso's lover and muse during this period and was created with elements of Cubism. The painting signifies a transition in their relationship by combining Walter's profile with that of Picasso's new lover, the Surrealist photographer Dora Maar, with whom he began a relationship in 1936. This portrait was produced in the same year as Guernica and The Weeping Woman, a significant phase in Picasso's artistic career. On 28 February 2018, it was sold at Sotheby's auction for £49.8 million, making it one of the most expensive paintings ever sold at an auction in Europe.
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