While Pablo Picasso internationally exhibited his paintings, he chose to expose his sculptures only through photographs. Picasso’s commitment to the photographic display of his sculpture comes to light through his fifteen year collaboration with Brassaï, the first photographer to collaborate regularly with the artist and the only one to engage thoroughly with Picasso’s sculptural oeuvre. This collaboration culminated in hundreds of images published largely on two occasions – a photo essay published in the avant-garde Journal Minotaure in 1933 and a catalogue covering almost fifty years of Picasso’s sculptural production published in French in 1948 and in English in 1949. These photographs, as well as unpublished prints, uncropped versions of the published photographs, and the contact sheets Brassaï assembled as he was photographing Picasso’s oeuvre are contextualized in light of contemporary theories regarding the presentation, representation, and dissemination of art. This case study sheds light on the way in which strategies of display shape art’s meaning, as well as the artist’s public image, reputation, and legacy.

While Pablo Picasso internationally exhibited his paintings, he chose to expose his sculptures only through photographs. Picasso’s commitment to the photographic display of his sculpture comes to light through his fifteen year collaboration with Brassaï, the first photographer to collaborate regularly with the artist and the only one to engage thoroughly with Picasso’s sculptural oeuvre. This collaboration culminated in hundreds of images published largely on two occasions – a photo essay published in the avant-garde Journal Minotaure in 1933 and a catalogue covering almost fifty years of Picasso’s sculptural production published in French in 1948 and in English in 1949. These photographs, as well as unpublished prints, uncropped versions of the published photographs, and the contact sheets Brassaï assembled as he was photographing Picasso’s oeuvre are contextualized in light of contemporary theories regarding the presentation, representation, and dissemination of art. This case study sheds light on the way in which strategies of display shape art’s meaning, as well as the artist’s public image, reputation, and legacy.