Lump: The Dog Who Ate a Picasso (Lump Sobaka Kotoraya Syela Pikasso)

On a spring morning in 1957, David Douglas Duncan, a veteran photojournalist and friend of Picasso, visited the artist at his home, Villa La Californie, near Cannes. He was accompanied by his dachshund, who had been living with Duncan in Rome for just over a year. At the villa, the dog found a new home and was named Lump. This is the premise of this book, an original and incredibly touching photo essay about the friendship between Picasso and Lump. The artist not only immortalized Lump on the first day of their meeting by depicting him on a plate, but also celebrated him in forty-five canvases based on Velázquez's masterpiece, Las Meninas, replacing the phlegmatic greyhound in the foreground with the carefree Lump. This book is an intimate portrait of Picasso and his sleek friend in their family circle and studio. David Duncan, who so meticulously documented Picasso's final years, published over 20 books and managed all his projects independently until the end of his life, without email. We discussed the publication of this book by phone in March 2018, and on June 7, he died at the age of 102.