Indiana University Indiana University IU

Artist Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
Title The Studio (L'Atelier)
Date June 1934
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions Stretcher: 50 3/8 x 62 3/4 in. (128 x 159.4 cm)
Framed: 63 1/4 x 76 in. (160.7 x 193 cm)
Credit Line Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Henry R. Hope, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 69.55

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About this Work

The Studio is one of Picasso’s major works addressing the theme of artist and model. A provocative intersection of style, subject, and biography, the work portrays Picasso himself, standing at his easel, and his much younger model and mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter reclining on a couch. The exuberant colors and bold shapes reflect Picasso’s continuing development of the radical Cubist vocabulary he and Braque pioneered before World War I. Yet the composition also reinforces traditionally misogynist perceptions about male creativity and female passivity. In this work, the artist’s realm is defined by angular geometries evoking rational intellectualism, while Marie-Thérèse’s form is one of rounded, organic shapes that suggest her creativity is linked to her sexuality.


1969, Gift to the Indiana University Art Museum from Dr. and Mrs. Henry R. Hope, Bloomington

1944–1969, Collection of Dr. Henry Radford Hope (1905–1989) and Mrs. Henry R. Hope (née Sarahanne "Sally" Adams, 1913–2002), Bloomington, Indiana (purchased from Paul Rosenberg & Co., July 1944) [1]

ca. 1940–1944, with Paul Rosenberg & Co. Gallery, New York [2]

ca. 1937–ca. 1940, with Rosenberg & Helft Gallery, London [3]

1934–ca. 1937, with Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris, France [4]

Notes:

[1] Purchase described in letters from Paul Rosenberg to Henry Hope, dated August 1 and August 24, 1944, II.C.22, The Paul Rosenberg Archives, a Gift of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg, the Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.

[2] According to Paul Rosenberg's daughter-in-law, Elaine Rosenberg, he had the painting shipped from London to New York around 1940. She could not verify exact dates of shipment (per curator's telephone conversation with Elain Rosenberg, January 28, 2008).

[3] Letters from Paul Rosenberg to Henry Hope, August 1 and August 24, 1944, II.C.22, The Paul Rosenberg Archives, a Gift of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg, The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.

[4] Paul Rosenberg acquired the painting directly from Picasso shortly after painting's completion. It was sent to Rosenberg & Helft around 1937 (per curator's telephone conversation with Elaine Rosenberg, January 28, 2008).


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

June 16, 2018–January 20, 2019, "Picasso to Pollock: Modern Masterworks from the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University," Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY

February 12–May 11, 2014, "Picasso. In the Studio," Fundación Mapfre, Madrid, Spain

October 10, 2008–February 8, 2009, "Picasso Harlequin 1917–1937," Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy (cat. no. 69)

June 9, 2001–January 6, 2002, "Picasso: The Artist's Studio," Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, June 9–September 23, 2001; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, October 21, 2001–January 6, 2002 (cat. no. 26)

February 10–September 14, 1994, "Picasso and the Weeping Women: The Years of Marie-Thêrêse Walter and Dora Maar," Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; traveled to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (cat. p. 154; fig. 115)

January 27–March 17, 1991, "A Wonderful Discernment: Selections from the Hope Collection," Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana

June 10–August 9, 1987, "Picasso in the Indiana University Art Museum Collection," Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana

January 10–March 30, 1986, "Masterpieces From The Henry and Sally Hope Collection," Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

December 9–December 28, 1980, "Pablo Picasso: Images of the 1930s," Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

October 3, 1973–June 22, 1975, "Paintings from Midwestern University Collections," organized by Wildenstein Gallery, New York, NY: October 3–31, 1973; University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA, November 18–December 30, 1973; Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, January 20–March 3, 1974; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI, March 17–April 21, 1974; Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, May 5–July 14, 1974; Indiana University Art Museum, IU, Bloomington, IN, July 28–September 22, 1974; University Gallery at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, November 17, 1974–January 12, 1975; Kresge Art Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, January 26–February 23, 1975; Ohio State University Gallery, Columbus, OH, March 16–April 27, 1975; David and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Mary 15–June 22, 1975 (cat. no. 59)

October 10–November 28, 1971, "The Thirties Decade: American Artists and Their European Contemporaries," Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska (cat. no. 158)

January 6–January 26, 1958, "The Persistence of the Classical Tradition," Indiana University Art Center Gallery, Bloomington, Indiana (checklist no. 71)

October 21–November 22, 1949, "The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Radford Hope," Cincinnati Modern Art Society, Cincinnati, OH (cat. no. 1, as "Studio with Artist and Model")

October 25–November 2, 1948, “French Art,” Indiana University Art Center Gallery and Auditorium Lobby, Bloomington, IN (checklist no. 14)

February 19–March 18, 1944, "Color and Space in Modern Art Since 1900," Mortimer Brandt, New York, NY [1]

May 28–June 26, 1938, "Realism and Surrealism: Several Phases of Contemporary Art," Guildhall, Gloucester, England (cat. no. 106). [2]

March 16–April 14, 1938, "Bonnard, Braque, Henri-Matisse, Picasso, Rouault," Rosenberg & Helft Gallery, London, England (cat. no. 10) [3]

April 1–April 30, 1937, "Recent Works of Picasso," Rosenberg & Helft Gallery, London, England (cat. no. 22)

June 11–July 4, 1936, "The International Surrealist Exhibition," New Burlington Galleries, London, England (cat. no. 295) [4]

Unknown (before 1938), exhibited at Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris [5]

Notes:

[1] Per invoice of July 28, 1944, Paul Rosenberg & Co., II.C.22, The Paul Rosenberg Archives, a Gift of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg, The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York

[2] According to a checklist of the 1938 exhibition, a Picasso painting described as "The Studio" (incorrectly dated to 1936) was exhibited that year. One of the lenders to the exhibition was Paul Rosenberg, who owned the Eskenazi's painting at the time (per curator's phone convresation and email from Anne Strathie, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, England, December 13, 207). A microfiche of the catalogue received from Strathie on December 19, 2007, reveals that "The Studio" was also illustrated on the cover page.

[3] Per invoice of July 28, 1944, Paul Rosenberg & Co., II.C.22, The Paul Rosenberg Archives, a Gift of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg, The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.

[4] The painting is incorrected dated to 1936 in the catalogue.

[5] Per invoice of July 28, 1944, Paul Rosenberg & Co., II.C.22, The Paul Rosenberg Archives, a Gift of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg, The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.

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"The Studio | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=69.55