Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop

Penguin Random House
‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.
Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.
Eakin was present at The Norfolk Library Saturday, March 16, for a conversation with Robert Dance, author of the 2023 biography “Ferocious Ambition: Joan Crawford’s March to Stardom,” a member of the library’s board of directors and a trustee of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford. The event was a “bonus” part of the Haystack Book Festival, a program presented by the Norfolk Foundation — delayed from the event’s 2023 October panel discussions due to scheduling.
Picasso's 1910 oil painting "Femme et Pot de Moutarde" ("Woman with Mustard Pot") was shown at the 1913 Armory Show in New York, Boston, and Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reported a viewer commenting, “But how did the mustard pot survive after such evident mutilation of the lady’s features?”The Hague
Eakin and Dance’s conversation touched on the 1913 Armory Show in New York City. Also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, the Armory Show was a groundbreaking event and marked the inaugural showcase of modern art in the United States. It served as a pivotal platform, acquainting American audiences — for better or worse, per the conservative attitudes of the day — with prominent European avant-garde figures like Marcel Duchamp and Henri Matisse, catalyzing a profound shift in the landscape of American art.
“The one thing to keep in mind is that images circulate easily today, so we’re even familiar with art that we haven’t seen, but the opposite was true 100 years ago,” Eakin said at the Norfolk Library. “Everything had to be seen, you had to confront it, and there was a scarcity, especially of new art. Access to artworks was very limited unless you were traveling to Europe. The [American] taste at the time was: You have a country that is an insecure, powerful new country that’s just arrived on the world scene. What [America] wanted more than anything was to be regarded as a great European power. America wanted to have those Old Master paintings, paintings that were owned by princes and kings.”
This was also the shared opinion of such influential shapers of East Coast America’s established art world, like art collector and philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardener, who went on to found Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1903; financier John Pierpont Morgan, one of the greatest benefactors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and art collector and industrialist Henry Clay Frick, whose collection of distinguished Old Master paintings can be seen today at The Frick Collection on the Upper East Side of New York City.
“Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” ("The Young Ladies of Avignon") by Pablo PicassoThe Museum of Modern Art
“The idea of new art having value was a shocking concept,” Eakin continued. “There was also a larger tradition of insecurity, but also theorizing about deviant art — what would come to be called ‘degenerate art.’ We think of this as a Nazi term, but actually, the conversation about degeneracy in art starts in the United States, and it starts very much with shows like the Armory Show.”
Picasso had actually shown work in America prior to the 1913 Armory Show. In 1911, Alfred Stieglitz, an American photographer and gallerist who would go on to marry modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe, showcased the first exhibition of Picasso’s drawings in the United States in his gallery 291, located on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Eakin noted that 83 cubist drawings by Picasso were shown, each priced at $12 dollars. Only one sold — to American artist and critic Hamilton Easter Field. The two had already met in Paris.
For a pop culture perspective of Picasso at the time, we can look to James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster “Titanic,” where Kate Winslet’s American socialite character Rose has brought Picasso’s 1907 pro-cubist oil painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” aboard the RMS Titanic. This is a bit of historical revisionism, as “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” did not sink with the ship but is hanging in The Museum of Modern Art thanks to an acquisition by the museum’s patron, Lillie P. Bliss, who features prominently in the later half of Eakin’s book. Still, the remark by Rose’s fiancé, an American industrialist, rings true for the time and his own social circles: “Something Picasso… He won’t amount to a thing. Trust me, he won’t.”
LAKEVILLE — Rhys V. Bowen, 65, of Foxboro, Massachusetts, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sept. 15, 2025. Rhys was born in Sharon, Connecticut, on April 9, 1960 to Anne H. Bowen and the late John G. Bowen. His brother, David, died in 1979.
Rhys grew up at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, where his father taught English. Attending Hotchkiss, Rhys excelled in academics and played soccer, basketball, and baseball. During these years, he also learned the challenges and joys of running, and continued to run at least 50 miles a week, until the day he died.
In 1982 after graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College, Rhys returned to Hotchkiss to teach biology, where he met his wife of 35 years, Rebecca (Becky) Snow. After two years of teaching, he worked at a research field site in Borneo, then went on to the University of California, Davis where he earned a PhD in Animal Behavior in 1995.
Rather than follow an academic tenure track, Rhys preferred the solitary focus of field ornithology, and he spent several decades researching the ecology of bird species in California and on Cape Cod and the Islands. Rhys believed passionately in supporting biodiversity through habitat preservation. His proudest achievements, therefore, came through his work for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, in New Hampshire, where he served on committees and the Board of Trustees for twenty years, including three years as Chair.
Deeply intellectual and curious, Rhys learned Homeric Greek so he could read The Odyssey and The Iliad in their original language. An amateur Melville scholar, he would wax poetic about reading Moby-Dick for the umpteenth time.Rhys’s spirit was filled by the performing arts. Concerts by the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Early Music Festival often brought tears to his eyes, while Boston Bluegrass Union shows delivered toe-tapping fidgetiness.
Rhys will be missed by his wife, Becky Snow, his mother, Anne Bowen, extended family, friends, and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.
A service will be held at The Hotchkiss School chapel on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025 at 1 p.m..
In honor of Rhys’s memory, donations can be made to the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.
LAKEVILLE — Kelsey K. Horton, 43, a lifelong area resident, died peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, following a courageous battle with cancer. Kelsey worked as a certified nursing assistant and administrative assistant at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, from 1999 until 2024, where she was a very respected and loved member of their nursing and administrative staff.
Born Oct. 4, 1981, in Sharon, she was the daughter of W. Craig Kellogg of Southern Pines, North Carolina, and JoAnne (Lukens) Tuncy and her husband Donald of Millerton, New York. Kelsey graduated with the class of 1999 from Webutuck High School in Amenia and from BOCES in 1999 with a certificate from the CNA program as well. She was a longtime member of the Lakeville United Methodist Church in Lakeville. On Oct. 11, 2003, in Poughkeepsie, New York, she married James Horton. Jimmy survives at home in Lakeville. Kelsey loved camping every summer at Waubeeka Family Campground in Copake, and she volunteered as a cheer coach for A.R.C. Cheerleading for many years. Kelsey also enjoyed hiking and gardening in her spare time and spending time with her loving family and many dear friends.
In addition to her husband and parents, Kelsey is survived by her two beloved children, Hunter Horton and Aryanna Horton, both of Lakeville; a step-brother, Jason Tuncy of East Hartford, Connecticut; her mother-in-law, Frances “Fran” Horton and her brother-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton III and his wife Penny of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and their son, Alec, and several aunts, uncles, cousins and many dear friends. She was predeceased by her father-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton, Jr. in 2017.
There are no calling hours. A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Millerton American Legion Post # 178, Route 44, Millerton, NY 12546. A time to celebrate Kelsey and share stories and memories. Memorial contributions may be made to The Jane Lloyd Fund. Please make checks payable to Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (please note in memo line, The Jane Lloyd Fund) and mail to: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 800 N. Main Street, Sheffield, MA 01257.
To send an online condolence to the family, flowers to the service or to plant a tree in Kelsey’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546.
SHARON — On Sept. 27, Eliot Warren Brown was shot and killed at age 47 at his home in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a random act of violence by a young man in need of mental health services. Eliot was born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, and attended Indian Mountain School and Concord Academy in Massachusetts. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He and his wife Brooke moved to New Orleans to answer the call for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and fell in love with the city.
In addition to his wife Brooke, Eliot leaves behind his parents Malcolm and Louise Brown, his sisters Lucia (Thaddeus) and Carla (Ruairi), three nephews, and extended family and friends spread far and wide.
Normally at this point one might list some interests, but in Eliot’s case, it’s easier to list what he wasn’t interested in: watching sports.
Eliot made a living as a fine craftsman and carpenter, but at heart he was an artist. He was well versed in music, painting, literature, biking, travel, Mardi Gras costumes, poker, pranks, street performance and on and on and on.Having previously hiked the entire Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal, he recently achieved another dream of summiting the highest stratovolcano in North America.
Eliot’s creative ability was astounding. His creations were designed to bring joy to others. He didn’t seek recognition or praise, and a large part of his work was anonymous. Pieces of art would appear in the community, encouraging people to think, connect and enjoy.
From the precociously funny and determinedly defiant boy that grew up in the Northwest corner of Connecticut, Eliot grew into a brilliant, gentle souled, boundlessly creative, ever mischievous, perpetually scraggly, and astoundingly wise and caring man who made an indelible impact on those who were lucky to have him in their lives.
In honor of Eliot, please consider making donations to organizations that work to end gun violence, support the arts, or provide mental health services. A service will be held at the Congregational Church in Salisbury on Sunday Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.
SHARON — Randall “Randy” Osolin passed away on Sept. 25, 2025, at the age of 74. He was born on Feb. 6, 1951, in Sharon, Connecticut to the late Ramon (Sonny) and Barbara (Sandmeyer) Osolin.
He was a dedicated social worker, a natural athlete, a gentle friend of animals, an abiding parish verger, an inveterate reader, and an estimable friend and neighbor. He was a kind-hearted person whose greatest joy was in helping someone in need and sharing his time with his family and good friends.
He was the beloved husband of Karen LaChance Osolin; the loving brother of Bruce Osolin and the late Gail Osolin Leo; the devoted uncle of Kyle and Andrew Osolin and Taylor LaChance; the brother-in-law of Debra LaChance; and the cousin of Brenda Curran, Jay Pickering and Audra Salazar.
To honor Randy’s memory, do a good deed for another or send a donation to the Little Guild, 258 Sharon-Goshen Road, West Cornwall, CT 06796. The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.