"Picasso was everything": Sylvette David - A Studio Visit | Christie's

Lydia Corbett, then known as Sylvette David, was just 19 years old when she met Picasso in the spring of 1954. The artist was so enchanted by her beauty — and her now famous high ponytail — that he went on to make some 60 portraits of her.

From her studio in Devon, Lydia (now 89) talks about what it was like to work with Picasso, what he meant to her and how he helped shape her as an artist.

Picasso gave Corbett a 1954 copy of the Parisian art magazine Verve — a special double issue which reproduced 180 of Picasso’s drawings executed in Vallauris in 1953 and early 1954. The magazine, together with a selection of photographs by Andre Villers and Edward Quinn, will be offered in the Picasso Ceramics online sale until 1 July 2024. The sale also includes a ceramic bowl by Picasso that depicts Sylvette, and two paintings by Corbett. It is the first time her work has been offered at auction.

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20th and 21st Century Art summer sales at Christie’s in London are now on view until 26 June 2024. The season opens with Marc Chagall — a Dialogue of Self and Soul (bidding online until 26 June), followed by Picasso Ceramics and the Post-War to Present Online Sale (until 1 July). The Post-War to Present live auction takes place on 27 June.