Time: October 15 and 16, 2013

Venues: Arken, Åbo Akademi, Turku and Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki

In 1956, American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan (b. 1916) met Pablo Picasso. Through his lens, Duncan followed one of the world’s most famous artists and became a close friend and companion. The photographer took thousands of photos of Picasso at work and at play, thus becoming one of the greatest witnesses of the artist.

Duncan’s work was presented by curators Stephanie Ansari and Tatyana Franck in the exhibition Picasso at work: Through the lens of David Douglas Duncan. The exhibition has amazed thousands of visitors in Museo Picasso Málaga in Spain, Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster in Germany, and La Piscine, Musée d’Art et d’Industrie André Diligent de Roubaix in France, revealing Picasso’s sources of inspiration and explaining the creative process behind some of his most well-known works.

During a 90-minute lecture, Ansari and Franck engaged in a dialogue with Duncan’s photographs and the works of Pablo Picasso, giving the audience a chance to reflect on Picasso’s extraordinary life and artistic process.

The seminars were a collaboration between Åbo Akademi University Foundation, Ateneum Art Museum and Hjelt Art Foundation.