#Sylvette David

[ornithorynquerouge]

Sylvette David, Picasso's muse by Kary H Lasch

[fashionlandscapeblog]

Kary H Lasch

Sylvette David beside a portrait of her by Picasso, 1954

Source

[gacougnol]

François Pages

Sylvette David (Picasso's muse)

In Vallauris 1948

[gatabella]

It's crazy seeing photos of Brigitte Bardot in the 1950s, she looked so different from all the other female stars of her era. The way she dressed, styled her hair and even the way she behaved (like being honest about not wanting to be a mother and dumping and taking men publicaly without caring what people thought). She was also going barefoot long before the hippies existed.

I don't know where her free spirit comes from, considering she was born in such a bourgeois family. But speaking about looks, in the early 1950s there was a Picasso muse - Sylvette David - called "The Girl With a Ponytail". She accused BB of stealing her style. But on the whole Brigitte had different hair styles and she attracted attention wherever she went just because it's her.

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Ph Andre Villers, Sylvette David, modèle de Pablo Picasso, 1954

[transpondster]

Photos of Sylvette David (aka Lydia Corbett), artist and model for Picasso’s series of “Sylvette” works during what Wikipedia calls his “ponytail period,” along with her painting, “Artichoke and Garlic Still Life”

Interview below:

[thatbitchsimone]

[exhibitionfairy]

Lydia Corbett, Sylvette David: A Retrospective

Lydia Corbett (née Sylvette David) is someone whose image as Pablo Picasso’s ‘Girl with the Ponytail’ will have at points, preceded her. But, her retrospective currently on show at Penwith Gallery in St. Ives, shows that she is beyond a muse. Lydia is herself an artist with her own vision of the world, a vision that informs the paintbrush in each stroke. Lydia is her own muse. When you look at her work, you put on her shoes, you obtain her vision, and just for a moment, are transported into a moment in time captured within a frame.  

The exhibition opened on March 8th, which is also International Women’s Day. I thought this was very appropriate for this show, as themes of womanhood, motherhood, and reclamation of one’s image are represented throughout the chosen works. Made famous by a man’s representation of her, it is refreshing to see how Sylvette sees the world, and sees herself, after years as the object of other’s interpretation. 

Perhaps an overused word, but I found the exhibition deeply inspiring. Walking through this gallery space with a huge array of different works in different mediums (the pieces here being only a fraction of what Lydia has created in her life, such the amazingly prolific artist that she is) I found myself reconnecting with a deep feeling that I think all humans have within them; which is to create, and to make art. To take the world that you know around you, and translate it through your lived experiences onto canvas, pottery, paper or board – anything you have to hand. The final creation itself becomes can become a by-product of the action of expression in search of understanding and grasping the world around you.  

The influence from Picasso in Lydia’s work is clear; the dual profiles and bold colours featured in works like Sylvette in Toby’s chair, La Galloise, Vallauris, 1954, and the arrangement and connection between different objects and faces seen for example in Dance, Dance, Wherever You May Be and Memory of Picasso is characteristic of many of his works, and pays tribute to someone who became a very important part of Sylvette’s life. However, the difference in this work is that the muse herself is the one with the paintbrush, herself alone being in control of how she is presented. Whilst she has in some works painted herself in a similar way to how Picasso did, there is a different ambience to the work. Here, we get to see the Girl with the Ponytail as she sees herself, and as what’s important to her; her dreams, hopes, and values.

From left to right: Sylvette in Toby’s chair, La Galloise, Vallauris, 1954, Dance, Wherever You May Be and Memory of Picasso

A personal highlight of the arrangement of this exhibition is when fist approaching the space, you are unavoidably greeted by Lydia herself in 7.24 Sylvette and child, a comparably small and at first unassuming bronze piece compared to the works that lay beyond her, but she is placed front and centre of the exhibition as a greeting into the space. Here, Sylvette is freed from the canvas and becomes three-dimensional, with a baby in her arms, reminding the viewer of her role as a mother and woman, as well as artist and muse. This is who she is, and she is the artist. 

7.24 Sylvette and child

The gallery space itself that is temporarily home to Lydia’s works is a space that encourages reflection, emphasised by the architecture that lends to a church-like feeling within the space. Along the left wall as you first walk in are four alcoves, each with their own themes and connections between the works within them. The colour harmony in each separate alcove radiates through into the space, almost like stained glass that you would find in grand cathedrals. The act of looking into a smaller separate space with its own distinct arrangement of pieces thoughtfully and purposefully put together highlights the vast amount of work and all the different themes and motifs that Lydia has explored in her prolific career, like mini exhibitions within the wider show. As I said before, whilst the amount of works in this retrospective are only a small portion of everything Lydia has created, this exhibition is almost like a microcosm of an entire lifetime of work. You can see pottery, watercolours, portraits and still-lifes all within one room in one exhibition, and Lydia and Sylvette’s essence is woven through all of them unquestionably. 

I have been three times so far to see this retrospective, and each time I have noticed something new, and felt something different. It speaks volumes to the depth of skill an artist has when the same pieces in the same arrangement can be seen differently with each new visit. By the third visit I was seeing pieces that I thought were new, but from looking back at my photos I realise they were there all along. I am excited to see what I discover the next time I go and see it. 

I was very fortunate to have the pleasure of meeting Lydia and her daughter Isabel Coulton, herself also an established artist and author. Their immense generosity and kindness was beyond encouraging to me as a budding writer and creative. Just being in the company of these wise, experienced and talented women sent a shockwave of motivation through me, and is the reason I am typing these words. The exhibition itself is deeply stimulating and planted this seed of incentive within me that only flourished upon meeting the wonderful woman behind it all. After this experience, all I want to do is create, and I encourage all those who may also struggle with motivation, or with finding the answers to questions, to go and immerse yourself in this exhibition; all of the answers to your questions are within these works. 

Lydia Corbett, Sylvette David: A Retrospective is on display at Penwith Gallery until Saturday, April 6th.  

[anotherdiamonday]

Sylvette David

[imperfectfragilediary]

Sylvette David by Pablo Picasso, 18 April 1954

[lemuseum]

[rearte2]

Portrait of Sylvette David in Green Chair, 1954 by Pablo Picasso

[gacougnol]

Denise Colomb

Picasso’s muse Sylvette David

1954

[surrealistaa]

Picasso & Sylvette David, 1954, François Pagès

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Pablo Picasso with Sylvette David, 1954.