The two women, Dorota Jeal (Polish) and Lydia Corbett (French on her father’s side and English on her mother’s), met in the 1990s in the same unexpected way in which Picasso had noticed his future model in the 1950s in Vallauris in southern France.
Sylvette David (today Lydia Corbett) came to visit her mother in Valauris, in the south of France, with her first great love, Toby—the man who would become her husband. Toby made artistic metal chairs, which he exhibited for sale at the Madoura ceramics workshop, where Picasso was firing his sculptures at the time.
Pablo Picasso was their neighbor. He lived in the “La Galloise” villa with Françoise Gillot and their two children, Paloma and Claode. At that time, his next passionate affair was already in the air—with Jaqueline Roque, 45 years younger than him, who would become his wife and his last life partner.
Sylvette, a beautiful, natural blonde with a long neck, wore a ponytail at her father’s suggestion. Her father, the painter Emanuel David, believed that this hairstyle best emphasized his daughter’s beauty. Sylvette was aware that she lived next door to one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. When Picasso bought two metal chairs from Toby, she was very excited as she carried them to the master’s home. She did not know then that 74-year-old Picasso would ask her to pose.
Picasso not only painted her portraits but also created a series of modeled-metal sculptures called “Sylvette’s Heads.” The image of her—the ponytailed girl Picasso created—inspired Roger Vadim to change Bardot’s look. In the famous film “And God Created Woman,” Brigitte Bardot first appears with a mass of blonde hair styled as in Pablo Picasso’s portraits of Sylvette. One of these portraits was sold after Picasso’s death for more than 6 million dollars. One of the model’s heads adorns Silver Towers Garden in Greenwich Village, New York. Her image can be found in the world’s largest galleries and among the most discerning art collectors.
When Picasso asked her to become his model, it was the most wonderful day of her life. The day that changed everything. People began taking an interest in her. She became famous. She posed for the master for three spring and summer months in 1954. She then got married and moved to England, where she began painting herself. She decided to make her debut late in life. She began painting in 1978, and held her first exhibition in Devon, England, in 1985.
She met Dorota crying at a bus stop in the village of South Brent in England. The Polish woman was at a turning point in her life, without work or a home. After a brief conversation, the artist offered her a place to sleep at her house. The two women became very close friends. Dorota, of course, did not know who had helped her. What mattered most to her was that Lydia was friendly and kind. Over time, as their friendship grew more intense, Dorota learned about her friend’s past: about Picasso, Vadim, the spring of 1954, and Lydia’s work.
Dorota found a place to live in the same village and often visited her friend. Each time she went to see her, she bought her hostess a cake from the bakery she passed on the way. Not all English pastries suited her taste, to the despair of the baker, Bil. The confectioner offered her the best cake every time, while she grimaced and complained. Finally, in order to silence her—as Dorota puts it—he invited her for coffee and then proposed. Thus, a demanding customer became his wife.
Today, Bil and Dorota Jeal live in Kliczków and will host Lydia Corbett. A portrait of Dorota painted by Corbett hangs in Dorota’s living room. “When Lydia showed me her work, I asked for a few changes,” Dorota says. The two women wondered whether the expression on the face was right, and Corbett eventually agreed with Dorota that a few corrections were needed. Then Dorota asked for the cigarette she had been holding in her hand while posing to be removed from the painting. “It was a pleasure,” Dorota says of posing for Picasso’s model.
Lydia’s works are exhibited, among other places, in England at the Francis Kyle Galery, at Tate Gallery on the occasion of a major Pablo Picasso exhibition, as well as in Germany, France, Japan and the USA. A documentary about Lydia and Picasso was made by BBC 2. Thanks to the friendship between the two women, the residents of Bolesławiec also had the unique opportunity to see Lydia Corbett’s works.
(GH information)