CZECHLOVOKIA – CIRCA 1972: A postage stamp printed in Czechlovokia showing Pablo Picasso, circa 1972

Compiled by London swaminathan

Date: 12 September 2016

Pictures are taken from various sources; thanks.

At one time Pablo Picasso was so poor that he had Max Jacob occupied the same bed in turns. Jacob, who besides being a cultivated poet, was an impoverished novelty shop clerk, slept at night while Picasso worked. When Jacob got up in the morning to let Picasso go to bed, the floor would be carpeted with drawings, which Jacob had to walk on and from which his foot prints later had to be cleaned by art experts, since every early Picasso fragment eventually became so valuable that it could be sold.

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Hogarth, the celebrated engraver, died, as he had for the greater part of his life lived, in the greatest poverty. Within a few days of his dissolution, bailiffs were sent to seize the bed on which he lay, for a small debt which he was unable to discharge.

“Spare me”, said the expiring artist, “my bed for a little while – only I can find another in the grave”.

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A New York firm applied to Abraham Lincoln , some years before he was President, for information as to the financial standing of one of his neighbours. Here was the answer:

“Yours of the 10^th received. First of all he has a wife and baby; together they ought to be worth 500,000 dollars, to any man. Secondly, he has an office in which there is a table worth 1-50 dollars and three chairs worth, say 1-00 dollar. Last of all, there is in one corner a large rat hole, which will bear looking into.”

Respectfully

A.Lincoln.

–Subham–