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| Picasso, by the boy who bit him | Picasso, by the boy who bit him |
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| The small blue and white ceramic by Pablo Picasso that now sits in a museum display case at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings has a very different place in the childhood memories of Antony Penrose, the boy who bit one of the most famous artists of the 20th century – and was promptly bitten back. | The small blue and white ceramic by Pablo Picasso that now sits in a museum display case at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings has a very different place in the childhood memories of Antony Penrose, the boy who bit one of the most famous artists of the 20th century – and was promptly bitten back. |
| His father was Roland Penrose, the surrealist painter, critic, curator and founder of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, and his mother was Lee Miller, the photographer, model, muse and famously eccentric cook whose artistic blue chicken was never forgotten by dinner guests. | His father was Roland Penrose, the surrealist painter, critic, curator and founder of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, and his mother was Lee Miller, the photographer, model, muse and famously eccentric cook whose artistic blue chicken was never forgotten by dinner guests. |
| “Some of the Picasso ceramics were put carefully out of the way on high shelves, but others were just around the place at the farm,” says Penrose of his childhood. “That one my mother used as a gravy boat.” | “Some of the Picasso ceramics were put carefully out of the way on high shelves, but others were just around the place at the farm,” says Penrose of his childhood. “That one my mother used as a gravy boat.” |
| Penrose now cares for the art collection at Farley Farm House in East Sussex, as well as the archive of thousands of photographs found after Miller’s death, long after she had a nervous breakdown, gave up photography and claimed to have destroyed all her early work, including from her time as a war photographer for Vogue. | Penrose now cares for the art collection at Farley Farm House in East Sussex, as well as the archive of thousands of photographs found after Miller’s death, long after she had a nervous breakdown, gave up photography and claimed to have destroyed all her early work, including from her time as a war photographer for Vogue. |
| Among the images recovered were photographs documenting his father’s long friendship with Picasso. They were regular guests in each other’s houses, swapping stays at the Penrose farmhouse near Lewes for Picasso’s various villas in the south of France. | Among the images recovered were photographs documenting his father’s long friendship with Picasso. They were regular guests in each other’s houses, swapping stays at the Penrose farmhouse near Lewes for Picasso’s various villas in the south of France. |
| Picasso painted Miller several times, and gave many drawings, paintings and ceramics as gifts to Penrose, including a splendid blue jug – too impressive to become a gravy boat – made as a birthday present in 1951. But a new exhibition in Hastings traces another friendship: the one between Picasso, Antony Penrose, and William, Farley’s magnificent Ayrshire bull. | Picasso painted Miller several times, and gave many drawings, paintings and ceramics as gifts to Penrose, including a splendid blue jug – too impressive to become a gravy boat – made as a birthday present in 1951. But a new exhibition in Hastings traces another friendship: the one between Picasso, Antony Penrose, and William, Farley’s magnificent Ayrshire bull. |
| “The quickest way to get on the good side of Picasso was to be a small child or an animal,” says Penrose, recalling one of the painter’s visits to Sussex. “They brought out the warmth in him immediately. [So] I took him to see William, a magnificent creature, and he was most impressed.” | “The quickest way to get on the good side of Picasso was to be a small child or an animal,” says Penrose, recalling one of the painter’s visits to Sussex. “They brought out the warmth in him immediately. [So] I took him to see William, a magnificent creature, and he was most impressed.” |
| That night Picasso created a painting for the ICA visitors’ book – the original is included in the exhibition – showing three versions of William with spiky wings, hovering like a dragonfly, and perched on twigs in the garden. “I got scratched all over crawling through the bushes looking for those little winged bulls,” Penrose says. “I never found them but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there.” | That night Picasso created a painting for the ICA visitors’ book – the original is included in the exhibition – showing three versions of William with spiky wings, hovering like a dragonfly, and perched on twigs in the garden. “I got scratched all over crawling through the bushes looking for those little winged bulls,” Penrose says. “I never found them but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there.” |
| The encounter with William also led to a bullfighting game that turned feral. | The encounter with William also led to a bullfighting game that turned feral. |
| The small boy would form his hands into horns and charge the artist, who held his jacket like a matador. At the last moment Picasso would whip the cape aside and Antony would crash into the wall. Eventually he tired of the game, and bit Picasso on the arm. The artist whipped around with surprising speed, and bit the child on the wrist. | The small boy would form his hands into horns and charge the artist, who held his jacket like a matador. At the last moment Picasso would whip the cape aside and Antony would crash into the wall. Eventually he tired of the game, and bit Picasso on the arm. The artist whipped around with surprising speed, and bit the child on the wrist. |
| “He didn’t actually draw blood, but I certainly felt it. Picasso told my mother: ‘That is the first time I have ever bitten an Englishman.’ I’ve checked and I can’t find any marks on my arm. Just as well – if there were, some art dealer would have had it off me long ago.” | “He didn’t actually draw blood, but I certainly felt it. Picasso told my mother: ‘That is the first time I have ever bitten an Englishman.’ I’ve checked and I can’t find any marks on my arm. Just as well – if there were, some art dealer would have had it off me long ago.” |
| • Bitten by Picasso is at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings, East Sussex, until 9 October | • Bitten by Picasso is at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings, East Sussex, until 9 October |