Picasso's Ballet Curtain Now On Display

Spanish master Pablo Picasso had a thing for the ballet.

His first wife was ballerina Olga Khokhlova. And he painted several pieces for ballet companies, including a stage curtain for the ballet Le Tricorne in 1919.

That curtain ended up being installed like a tapestry for 55 years at the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York City. Last year, it was donated by the Landmarks Conservancy to the New York Historical Society, where it's now on view.

In this interview, WNYC's art critic Deborah Solomon said the curtain is a coup for the institution known for 19^th century holdings, like John James Audubon’s watercolors of birds. “Picasso’s tapestry, this ballet curtain, to me will become as essential to the Historical Society’s identity as Audubon and Thomas Cole,” she said, referring to the founder of the Hudson River School.

Solomon is not as enthusiastic about the inaugural show for the curtain. She explained the museum is presenting pieces from its collection, instead of Picasso’s designs for costumes for the same ballet, as well as pictures of the painting of the curtain. “I hope they will think about doing a show in the future that puts it in proper context,” she said.