George Gene Gustines strikes again with a piece on Nick Bertozzi, The Salon and Gordon Lee:

The standout “character” is Picasso, who is an egotist and often speaks in broken English, but somehow charms. Mr. Bertozzi said he was especially excited to show the mundane events that can lead to artistic breakthroughs. A morning talk with Braque about the simple beauty of comic strips gives Picasso the spark of inspiration he needs to complete a portrait of Ms. Stein with loose, cartoony eyes.

Readers, however, should not take every scene as fact. Picasso was known to be a regular reader of newspaper comics, Mr. Bertozzi said, but the link to the portrait is his supposition. “Researching the personalities in ‘The Salon’ led less to historical accuracy in terms of dates and places, but more, I feel, to an emotional reality,” Mr. Bertozzi said.