by caio

We might call what Picasso created “invention” or “reinvention,” but it is hard to look at these drawings and not have a sense that so much of what we call originality relies on a good deal of imitation and even a bit of theft.

James Polchin muses of the early works of Picasso. Do they reveal the artist he'd become? Are they rehashings of old techniques? What is originality? Does it add any value to the work?