André Level

French, died 1946

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A group of three men, two children, and one woman gather in an empty, dusky rose-pink landscape under a blue, cloudy sky in this nearly square painting. Most of the people have muted, peachy skin, and the woman and the youngest boy have cream-white skin. The woman sits on the ground to our right, apart from the rest of the men and children. She wears a coral-red skirt, a beige shawl, and straw hat, and she looks into the distance to our right. The others stand in a loose semi-circle on the left half of the composition. A man wearing a multicolored, diamond-patterned costume stands with his back to us to the left. He looks to our right in profile and holds the hand of a little girl who also stands with her back to us. She wears a pink dress and white stockings, and her right hand rests on the tall handle of a white basket. A portly man wearing a scarlet-red jester’s costume and pointed hat stands opposite this pair, facing us to our right. Next to him to our right a young man wears a tan-colored leotard with a black bottom. He holds a barrel over his right shoulder and looks over to our right. The sixth person is the youngest boy, who wears a baggy blue and red outfit, and he looks toward the woman. The eyes of all the figures are deeply shadowed.
Pablo Picasso, Family of Saltimbanques, 1905, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.190

Family of Saltimbanques

Pablo Picasso · 1905 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.190

Bibliography

1959

  • Level, André. Souvenirs d'un collectionneu. Paris, 1959

1992

  • Fitzgerald, Michael Cowan. "Skin Games," Art in America 80 (February 1992):70-83