In 1956 Pablo Picasso began a little-known collaboration with François Hugo, a descendant of Victor Hugo, that resulted in the making of a series of plates and dishes made in silver. This talk discusses that collaboration, which is now the most documented of any of Picasso’s collaborations. It will also look at the two collaborators’ different attitudes to the work and what those attitudes led to especially in Hugo’s case.
Dr Clare Finn first trained as a conservator of paintings, studying in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. She was a consultant to Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art department for 30 years and undertook work in several European countries as well as India and the Philippines. Simultaneously she trained as a jeweller at Sir John Cass and the Royal College of Art where she undertook her doctorate on Picasso’s Decorative Metalwork. Clare has contributed to exhibitions in France, Belgium and Spain and published her research in Apollo and Burlington Magazine. She is a member of the Picasso Bronze Project along with the staff at the Musée National Picasso, Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago.
