Why Picasso inherited Alfred Jarry's revolver

Pablo Picasso He couldn't make a mistake for most of his career, but he tried. In 2001, British historian, physicist and author Arthur I. Miller added to his existing criminal record Picasso his book “Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty that Causes Havoc.” Drawing on the spirit of Leonard Shlain's “Art and Physics” (1991), Miller's book maps parallels between the disparate yet complementary innovations of Einstein and Picasso, which remodeled the notions of time and space.

On page 31, Miller mentions that Picasso carried a Browning revolver loaded with simulated bullets. “Picasso he shot admirers who asked about the meaning of his paintings, his aesthetic theory, or anyone who dared to insult Cézanne's memory,” wrote Miller.

Legend has it that the weapon belonged to the playwright Alfred Jarry – patron saint of the Absurdists and creator of the parody of the science of pataphysics. Picasso I loved Jarry. A 2020 exhibit on Jarry's legacy at the Morgan Museum & Library noted that Guillame Apollinaire and Max Jacob spread rumors about interactions between Picasso and Jarry. Undoubtedly, Picasso drew Jarry many times and claimed that his pet owls were descended from the playwright's birds.

“Playwright Alfred Jarry typically carried a pistol with him,” Miller explained. “During a dinner, Jarry accused the sculptor Manolo of not being drunk enough and shot him. In the ensuing confusion, Jarry dropped the pistol and ran. Apollinaire, who was there, lent the pistol to a 'friend' – as he recalled in a 1909 memoir... The 'friend' was almost certainly Picasso.” Later, actor Gary Cooper would give Picasso the weapon shown in the famous photo of the painter taken by André Villers in 1959.

Picasso he must have first acquired Jarry's gun in the five years between Apollinaire's memoirs and 1904, when he met the writer. “Like Jarry, Picasso he used his Browning as a pataphysical weapon, in a sense playing Père Ubu “a natural”, getting rid of rude bourgeoisie, idiots and philistines”, said Miller.

Pére Ubu is the “gluttonous, greedy and cruel” antagonist at the center of Jarry’s first incendiary play, “Ubu Roi” (1896). Miller's account conflicts with the artist's understanding that Ubu did not deserve admiration. Picasso used Ubu as a symbol of injustice and oppression during the political upheavals of the 1930s.

Anyway, Picasso entered his morally gray era when he got Jarry's gun. He took a big leap in his career in 1901, during the Blue period, which turned into the Pink period - and the beginning of Cubism. In 1904, Gertrude Stein met and made her first purchases of Picasso, marking an important milestone in his career and ending his monetary problems. The acclaim of Picasso soared even further when he premiered “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” in 1907. The “Guardian” reported that Picasso unintentionally mocked Henri Rosseau with a lavish party in 1908, and when the “Mona Lisa” was stolen three years later, Picasso and Apollinaire were the main suspects. The most prolific artist in history was an imperfect man full of contradictions.

Source: Artnet News