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Art History Animalia @art_history_animalia@historians.social
#Superb_Owl_Sunday hall of fame legend: #Picasso ‘s beloved pet rescue #owl , Ubu, who inspired the famous artist to create a whole series of owl drawings, paintings, and ceramics.
(See ALTS for more info!)
#Superb_Owl #BirdsInArt
![B/W photo by Michel Sima, 1946: Picasso holding his pet owl Ubu in front of a painting featuring his little friend (Owl on a Chair and Sea Urchins, 1946) 1946) “While Pablo was still working at the Musée d’Antibes, [Michel] Sima had come to us one day with a little owl he had found in the corner of the museum. One of his claws had been injured. We bandaged it and gradually it healed. We bought a cage for him and when we returned to Paris we brought him back with us and put him in the kitchen with the canaries, the pigeons, the turtledoves. We were very nice to him but he only glared at us. Any time we went into the kitchen, the canaries chirped, the pigeons cooed and the turtledoves laughed but the owl remained stolidly silent or, at best, snorted. He smelled awful and ate nothing but mice. […] Every time the owl snorted at Pablo he would shout, ‘Cochon, Merde,’ and a few other obscenities, just to show the owl that he was even worse mannered than he was.” — Françoise Gilot, as quoted in _A Picasso Bestiary_](https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/113/977/314/285/697/730/original/5537dc1eb65aa547.png "B/W photo by Michel Sima, 1946: Picasso holding his pet owl Ubu in front of a painting featuring his little friend (Owl on a Chair and Sea Urchins, 1946) 1946) “While Pablo was still working at the Musée d’Antibes, [Michel] Sima had come to us one day with a little owl he had found in the corner of the museum. One of his claws had been injured. We bandaged it and gradually it healed. We bought a cage for him and when we returned to Paris we brought him back with us and put him in the kitchen with the canaries, the pigeons, the turtledoves. We were very nice to him but he only glared at us. Any time we went into the kitchen, the canaries chirped, the pigeons cooed and the turtledoves laughed but the owl remained stolidly silent or, at best, snorted. He smelled awful and ate nothing but mice. […] Every time the owl snorted at Pablo he would shout, ‘Cochon, Merde,’ and a few other obscenities, just to show the owl that he was even worse mannered than he was.” — Françoise Gilot, as quoted in _A Picasso Bestiary_")
