PORTRAIT OF IGOR STRAVINSKY

Portrait de Igor Stravinsky

1920

Paris, Picasso Museum

"Classicism"  

"From Naples I went back to Rome, where I had a delightful week with Lord Berners. I shall never forget the adventure which later befell me in crossing the frontier at Chiasso on my return to Switzerland. I was taking my portrait, which Picasso had just drawn at Rome and given to me. When the military authorities examined my luggage they found this drawing, and nothing in the world would induce them to let it pass. They asked me what it represented, and when I told them that it was my portrait, drawn by a distinguished artist, they utterly refused to believe me. "It is not a portrait, but a plan," they said. "Yes, the plan of my face, but of nothing else," I replied. But all my efforts failed to convince them, and I had to send the portrait, in Lord Berners' name, to the British Ambassador in Rome, who later forwarded it to Paris in the diplomatic bag. The altercation made me miss my connection, and I had to stay at Chiasso till next day."

Igor Stravinsky
"Chronicle of My Life"
ISBN: 5-85285-724-6

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