`Playboy` Picasso, the feminist?

Picasso was a staunch supporter of the woman`s movement.

London: Pablo Picasso`s image as a womaniser is as famous as his work. Now, nearly 37 years after his death, a new exhibition is all set to portray the Spanish artist as a feminist.The exhibition, `Picasso: Peace and Freedom` in Britain will display previously unseen correspondence between Picasso and many feminist organisations, which reveal that he a staunch supporter of the woman`s movement and donated works and money to a host of female campaign groups.

Among the correspondence, which was unearthed in the Spanish artist`s archives at Mus?e National Picasso in Paris, is a letter to the artist from the Conseil National de femmes Hongroises, a Hungarian women`s liberation group. In the letter Edith Erdei, the group`s president, wrote in 1961: "In the name of Hungarian women who admire your works representing the women and the child permit us to wonder if you would give your assent to reproduction on a postcard of the drawing enclosed. "These cards, to be produced at the time of International Women`s Day 1961, are intended to send a message of friendship to women in other countries..." Picasso, who was living in Paris at the time, underlined the request in red and blue pencil and wrote "oui". Another letter shows that in 1949, Picasso permitted Comit? d`Organisation de la Journ?e International des femmes pour la Paix, to use his painting, `L`enfant au pigeon`, on their Christmas cards which the organisastion sold to raise funds, `The Daily Telegraph` reported. The collection of correspondence also reveals that Picasso supported the Union des Femmes Francaises, a French organisation which campaigned for the advancement of women in government and academia. Other letters show Picasso`s generous support for the Women`s International Zionist Organisation (WIZO), a group committed to advancing the status of women. Lynda Morris, the co-curator of the exhibition, said that the show will challenge the widely held view of Picasso as womaniser. "There is a common perception of Picasso as a playboy who had little sympathy for women, but I hope this material suggests people look at him differently," she said. PTI