21 APRIL 1973, Page 28

Picasso

Sir, We all know that Picasso was a joker as well as a genius but surely it would be carrying a joke too far to. work for several years in close collaboration with Braque — an artist of great integrity and sensitivity — to evolve a style of painting which could only be described as " all right as a joke." Any one who looks seriously at their Cubist masterpieces must, I feel, see them as works of great beauty and truth as well as an entirely new and fascinating way of looking at the world.

Please, Spectator, look again!

Olga Davenport 44 Markham Square, London SW3