Five decades on, one of Picasso's muses steps out as an artist
Picasso only saw the shy 17-year-old girl, whose head was bowed with her hair high in a ponytail, for a few fleeting moments. But that was enough for him to become entranced by her beauty...
It was the young woman's sultry Brigitte Bardot look that captivated the Spanish artist. The encounter [in Provence] led to a year-long friendship in which Lydia Corbett, then known as Sylvette David, became the painter's model and posed for hours at his studio in the Cote d'Azur town of Vallauris.
The experience, in 1954, was a formative one for Ms Corbett, not least because, as well as becoming Picasso's latest muse, she was inspired to begin painting herself. Now, more than half a century later, Ms Corbett, 72, who lives in Devon, is exhibiting a large body of her work...
In the following three months, Picasso produced more than 40 pieces based on her likeness, and photographs of the painter with his latest model littered the pages of Parisian magazines.
The artist was famed for being a prodigious womaniser, known as the "bohemian Casanova". The women in his life were said to be the driving force behind much of his artwork, but almost all were left heartbroken as they were replaced by the next mistress-muse.
But unlike many of his former muses, Ms Corbett's relationship with the artist never went beyond a platonic bond -- not for the lack of trying on Picasso's part. Mr Corbett remembers that in the course of the sittings, the artist made some romantic overtures, albeit, unsuccessfully.
Read entire article at Independent (UK)
It was the young woman's sultry Brigitte Bardot look that captivated the Spanish artist. The encounter [in Provence] led to a year-long friendship in which Lydia Corbett, then known as Sylvette David, became the painter's model and posed for hours at his studio in the Cote d'Azur town of Vallauris.
The experience, in 1954, was a formative one for Ms Corbett, not least because, as well as becoming Picasso's latest muse, she was inspired to begin painting herself. Now, more than half a century later, Ms Corbett, 72, who lives in Devon, is exhibiting a large body of her work...
In the following three months, Picasso produced more than 40 pieces based on her likeness, and photographs of the painter with his latest model littered the pages of Parisian magazines.
The artist was famed for being a prodigious womaniser, known as the "bohemian Casanova". The women in his life were said to be the driving force behind much of his artwork, but almost all were left heartbroken as they were replaced by the next mistress-muse.
But unlike many of his former muses, Ms Corbett's relationship with the artist never went beyond a platonic bond -- not for the lack of trying on Picasso's part. Mr Corbett remembers that in the course of the sittings, the artist made some romantic overtures, albeit, unsuccessfully.