Picasso 1940-1960
See also : Top 10 Picasso Painting Sculpture by painters Bust The Woman Groups Nude Animals Cats Music and dance Orientalism
Calendar : 20th century 1940-1949 1941 1942 1950-1959 1950 1954 1955 1959
Calendar : 20th century 1940-1949 1941 1942 1950-1959 1950 1954 1955 1959
1941 Dora Maar au Chat by Picasso
2006 SOLD 95 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Dora Maar au Chat is an oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted by Picasso in 1941. Among the many portraits that Picasso made of his mistress, it is one of the most meticulous, with vibrant colors.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie and La Femme qui pleure.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006. The low resolution image is shared for fair use by Wikipedia.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie and La Femme qui pleure.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006. The low resolution image is shared for fair use by Wikipedia.
1941 Claustrophobia
2020 SOLD for $ 29.6M including premium
From Guernica to the Nazi Occupation, Dora Maar is a Cassandra for Picasso. He chose in 1940 to stay in Paris but he knew that he was threatened. He lives in lockdown with his muse, whom he adores physically but who once again becomes the symbol of resistance to horror, or even quite simply the symbol of horror.
Dora inevitably becomes his only model and his main theme. A drawing 27 x 22 cm sold for € 52K including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016 is typical of this morbid drift. Dora's face is a double blister where nose and mouth take divergent directions. The time when the cubist use of a double angle of view provided another vigor to the image is over.
Picasso marks his instability in an unusual way by changing the date of the drawing by an erasure, from May 7, 1941 to June 7, 1941. He no longer controls time. We will not know if Dora Maar au Chat, featuring the animal which symbolizes the dangers of the outside world, was painted before or after this anxious frenzy of June 1941.
The new configuration of the face responds to the anxieties of Picasso, who has decidedly little respect for Dora. He begins a series of oils on canvas on which Dora's other usual attributes are maintained : the long black hair, the tricorn hat, the smile despite adversity. He locks her up in an armchair which will symbolize freedom if one day she manages to escape and which anticipates the powerless Popes of Bacon. The nose, which takes its autonomy in this disaster, has been compared to a dog's muzzle or an elephant's trunk.
Tête, 61 x 38 cm, painted on June 13, was sold for $ 9.2M CAD including premium by Heffel on November 20, 2019. Femme dans un fauteuil, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on June 19, 1941, is estimated $ 20M for sale by Christie's in New York on October 6, lot 8.
The discomfort persists with very little variation, which is contrary to the usual creative vitality of the artist. Femme assise dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, October 23, 1941, was sold for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's on May 2, 2012. Femme dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, April 24, 1942, was sold for £ 19.4M including premium by Christie's on June 20, 2018. Portrait de femme, oil on panel 100 x 80 cm, August 5, 1942, was sold for $ 22.6M including premium by Christie's on May 6, 2014.
Dora inevitably becomes his only model and his main theme. A drawing 27 x 22 cm sold for € 52K including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016 is typical of this morbid drift. Dora's face is a double blister where nose and mouth take divergent directions. The time when the cubist use of a double angle of view provided another vigor to the image is over.
Picasso marks his instability in an unusual way by changing the date of the drawing by an erasure, from May 7, 1941 to June 7, 1941. He no longer controls time. We will not know if Dora Maar au Chat, featuring the animal which symbolizes the dangers of the outside world, was painted before or after this anxious frenzy of June 1941.
The new configuration of the face responds to the anxieties of Picasso, who has decidedly little respect for Dora. He begins a series of oils on canvas on which Dora's other usual attributes are maintained : the long black hair, the tricorn hat, the smile despite adversity. He locks her up in an armchair which will symbolize freedom if one day she manages to escape and which anticipates the powerless Popes of Bacon. The nose, which takes its autonomy in this disaster, has been compared to a dog's muzzle or an elephant's trunk.
Tête, 61 x 38 cm, painted on June 13, was sold for $ 9.2M CAD including premium by Heffel on November 20, 2019. Femme dans un fauteuil, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on June 19, 1941, is estimated $ 20M for sale by Christie's in New York on October 6, lot 8.
The discomfort persists with very little variation, which is contrary to the usual creative vitality of the artist. Femme assise dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, October 23, 1941, was sold for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's on May 2, 2012. Femme dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, April 24, 1942, was sold for £ 19.4M including premium by Christie's on June 20, 2018. Portrait de femme, oil on panel 100 x 80 cm, August 5, 1942, was sold for $ 22.6M including premium by Christie's on May 6, 2014.
1941 Dora Maar without the Cat
2012 SOLD 29 M$ including premium
On May 3, 2006, Sotheby's sold an oil on canvas by Picasso, 130 x 97 cm, at a price incredibly high for the time, $ 95M including premium. This was the end for the torrid Picasso: this painting shows a woman of indeterminate age, with hairdressing and cloth like an old woman, quietly sitting in an armchair.
This is war time, in 1941. Pablo at 60 is no longer the ebullient lover of Marie-Thérèse and Dora is no longer the Weeping Woman of Guernica. Dora Maar au chat smiled gently, her mouth brightening the unstructured face, it is a masterpiece of intimate art. The cat, incongruous because too small, probably symbolizes the calm now reigning at home.
Painted in the same year, also with saturated colors, Femme assise dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, is clearly the same woman as Dora au chat although she is not named. This oil on canvas is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 2, lot 4.
ADDENDUM before sale :
Read the story discussed yesterday by Bloomberg concerning the condition of this painting, recently damaged and repaired.
POST SALE COMMENT
It had been puzzling. A few hours before the sale, the specialized press announced that the painting had been damaged some years ago, and that the conflict between the parties was still open. Sotheby's confirmed the story, indicating that the repair was made with the utmost professionalism.
This painting could not approach the price of Dora Maar au Chat, of larger size. Taking into account all these considerations, the price, $ 29M including premium, is very satisfactory.
This is war time, in 1941. Pablo at 60 is no longer the ebullient lover of Marie-Thérèse and Dora is no longer the Weeping Woman of Guernica. Dora Maar au chat smiled gently, her mouth brightening the unstructured face, it is a masterpiece of intimate art. The cat, incongruous because too small, probably symbolizes the calm now reigning at home.
Painted in the same year, also with saturated colors, Femme assise dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, is clearly the same woman as Dora au chat although she is not named. This oil on canvas is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 2, lot 4.
ADDENDUM before sale :
Read the story discussed yesterday by Bloomberg concerning the condition of this painting, recently damaged and repaired.
POST SALE COMMENT
It had been puzzling. A few hours before the sale, the specialized press announced that the painting had been damaged some years ago, and that the conflict between the parties was still open. Sotheby's confirmed the story, indicating that the repair was made with the utmost professionalism.
This painting could not approach the price of Dora Maar au Chat, of larger size. Taking into account all these considerations, the price, $ 29M including premium, is very satisfactory.
1942 A Throne for Dora Maar
2018 SOLD for £ 19.4M including premium
It appears that Picasso did not know how to control his emotions. His apparent self-indulgence would therefore be a mask. He bravely chose to stay in Paris during the German occupation but he suffocates psychologically. He feels awkward in self-portraits. Dora once again plays the role of intercessor between the artist and the world.
Dora is a committed intellectual, probably fully aware of her role as a mirror. Eccentric and provocative, she accepts to see her image disfigured by the fantasies of Pablo. In real life she was not the crying woman, despite her political hypersensitivity. Yet she painted self-portraits in this role to give reason to Pablo.
Dora Maar au chat, painted by Picasso in 1941, must be considered in relation to the war. She is locked in her armchair without access to the outside world, as later Francis Bacon's pope. Hope is weak but still exists, marked by the coquetry of the hat and nails and by the freedom of a microscopic cat.
In the following year the atmosphere in Paris is even more painful. Attacks on degenerate art become insistent. Pablo needs Dora but she is threatened by her past as an anti-fascist activist. He locks her back in her chair but equip her with the nose of his Afghan dog so that she is no more recognizable by their persecutors. He will take care much later to state that there was no sadism in his portraits of Dora Maar.
Portrait de femme (Dora Maar), oil on panel 100 x 80 cm painted on August 5, 1942, was sold for $ 22.6M including premium by Christie's on May 6, 2014. On June 20 in London, Christie'ssells as lot 20 B Femme dans un fauteuil (Dora Maar), oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted on April 24, 1942.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Dora is a committed intellectual, probably fully aware of her role as a mirror. Eccentric and provocative, she accepts to see her image disfigured by the fantasies of Pablo. In real life she was not the crying woman, despite her political hypersensitivity. Yet she painted self-portraits in this role to give reason to Pablo.
Dora Maar au chat, painted by Picasso in 1941, must be considered in relation to the war. She is locked in her armchair without access to the outside world, as later Francis Bacon's pope. Hope is weak but still exists, marked by the coquetry of the hat and nails and by the freedom of a microscopic cat.
In the following year the atmosphere in Paris is even more painful. Attacks on degenerate art become insistent. Pablo needs Dora but she is threatened by her past as an anti-fascist activist. He locks her back in her chair but equip her with the nose of his Afghan dog so that she is no more recognizable by their persecutors. He will take care much later to state that there was no sadism in his portraits of Dora Maar.
Portrait de femme (Dora Maar), oil on panel 100 x 80 cm painted on August 5, 1942, was sold for $ 22.6M including premium by Christie's on May 6, 2014. On June 20 in London, Christie'ssells as lot 20 B Femme dans un fauteuil (Dora Maar), oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted on April 24, 1942.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1950 Claude et Paloma by Picasso
2013 SOLD for $ 28M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
After the war, Picasso needs a change of life. He promotes peace, alongside Aragon and the Communistes, and draws the Colombe in 1949. Beyond painting, he begins to bring a personal artistic style to pottery. After several extended stays on the Côte d'Azur, he settles permanently in 1948 with Françoise in Vallauris, near the Atelier Madoura.
He takes a new interest in children, who had symbolized the future in 1905 during the Période Rose. They are no longer future adults but human beings in their own right, with their sensitivity, curiosity and creativity. He creates a new family circle with Françoise : Claude was born in May 1947 and Paloma in April 1949.
On November 4, 2013, Christie's sold at lot 17 for $ 28M including premium from a lower estimate of $ 9M a portrait of Claude and Paloma, oil and ripolin on panel 116 x 89 cm painted in Vallauris on January 20, 1950.
The baby is in a high chair, and her brother is sitting next to her. The perspective is taken from a child's height to enter their own world. Well lit, Paloma is the main focus of the image. Her young face is realistic and confident, in an oval head. The left hand is active, with fingers spread. Claude is half in the shade, in the signature double perspective style of Picasso.
This family happiness is transient. In 1953 an exasperated Françoise leaves, taking with her the two children. Picasso will succeed in building his peace of mind in 1961 in Mougins, with Jacqueline.
He takes a new interest in children, who had symbolized the future in 1905 during the Période Rose. They are no longer future adults but human beings in their own right, with their sensitivity, curiosity and creativity. He creates a new family circle with Françoise : Claude was born in May 1947 and Paloma in April 1949.
On November 4, 2013, Christie's sold at lot 17 for $ 28M including premium from a lower estimate of $ 9M a portrait of Claude and Paloma, oil and ripolin on panel 116 x 89 cm painted in Vallauris on January 20, 1950.
The baby is in a high chair, and her brother is sitting next to her. The perspective is taken from a child's height to enter their own world. Well lit, Paloma is the main focus of the image. Her young face is realistic and confident, in an oval head. The left hand is active, with fingers spread. Claude is half in the shade, in the signature double perspective style of Picasso.
This family happiness is transient. In 1953 an exasperated Françoise leaves, taking with her the two children. Picasso will succeed in building his peace of mind in 1961 in Mougins, with Jacqueline.
1954 Femme Accroupie by Picasso
2017 SOLD for $ 37M by Christie's
Françoise left in September 1953 with the two children, Claude and Paloma. A distraught Picasso is looking for a new muse in Vallauris. In April 1954 he sees Sylvette with her long blonde ponytail. The shy 19 year old agrees to meet the artist but fears his flirtation.
Pablo already knew the brunette Jacqueline who has a job at Madoura. She accepts to live with him. In June Pablo paints his first portraits of Jacqueline. She is 28 years old and Picasso 45 more. They will not leave each other and will marry in Vallauris in 1961.
A quarter century before, Picasso sorted the blonde Marie-Thérèse from the the street for her physical features thet could help him in his career. It is not by chance that his new muse Jacqueline looks like one of the Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix with her black hair, dark eyes and straight nose.
On October 8, 1954 Pablo paints three oils on canvas in a single size, 146 x 114 cm. Jacqueline in long dress is crouched on the floor in an interior, hands clasped around her raised knees.
In this new series painted shortly before the death of Matisse, Pablo wants to demonstrate his skill as a colorist. It is sunny in Vallauris and the blue sky behind the window provides a bright atmosphere. Realism and proportions are not considered : the artist uses his signature style of simultaneous vision of two profile faces of the sitter and the limbs are too frail. The lozenges and half lozenges of the skirt provide a geometric element.
One of these paintings was sold for $ 37M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 39 A. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
Another opus, kept at the Museo Picasso Malaga, is similar, with less bold face lines and a less composed background. The third one was sold for £ 7.4M by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017, lot 55.
Pablo already knew the brunette Jacqueline who has a job at Madoura. She accepts to live with him. In June Pablo paints his first portraits of Jacqueline. She is 28 years old and Picasso 45 more. They will not leave each other and will marry in Vallauris in 1961.
A quarter century before, Picasso sorted the blonde Marie-Thérèse from the the street for her physical features thet could help him in his career. It is not by chance that his new muse Jacqueline looks like one of the Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix with her black hair, dark eyes and straight nose.
On October 8, 1954 Pablo paints three oils on canvas in a single size, 146 x 114 cm. Jacqueline in long dress is crouched on the floor in an interior, hands clasped around her raised knees.
In this new series painted shortly before the death of Matisse, Pablo wants to demonstrate his skill as a colorist. It is sunny in Vallauris and the blue sky behind the window provides a bright atmosphere. Realism and proportions are not considered : the artist uses his signature style of simultaneous vision of two profile faces of the sitter and the limbs are too frail. The lozenges and half lozenges of the skirt provide a geometric element.
One of these paintings was sold for $ 37M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 39 A. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
Another opus, kept at the Museo Picasso Malaga, is similar, with less bold face lines and a less composed background. The third one was sold for £ 7.4M by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017, lot 55.
1955 The Homage by Picasso to his own Art
2015 SOLD for $ 180M including premium
The Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix, by inspiring Picasso, had a role in the genesis of modern painting. Executed in Paris in 1907, the painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon shows a group of women. Unlike in Delacroix, they are naked. They are not in the hot atmosphere of a harem but their offering is venal.
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on 10 November 1997. It is for sale on May 11 at Christie's in New York, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on 10 November 1997. It is for sale on May 11 at Christie's in New York, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1955 Femme accroupie au Costume Turc by Picasso
2007 SOLD for $ 31M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2014 before the sale of another painting by Christie's (see below)
Matisse's death in November 1954 deprives Picasso of a friend with whom he liked to compare his ideas about the essentials of art. Little interested so far by Orientalism, Pablo begins on December 13 his series of fifteen paintings titled Les Femmes d'Alger.
The theme is ostensibly following Delacroix but Picasso leaves no doubt about his real intention by declaring not without humor that he got the legacy of Matisse's odalisques. Remind that Les Femmes d'Alger is a project probably unique in the history of art where the artist carefully imitated several styles used by himself during his long career.
A new series of paintings beginning on November 19, 1955 combines this orientalist fantasy with the exploration of the face and body of his new muse Jacqueline Roque, shown in clothes and attitudes of a Turkish harem from Pablo's imagination. The style resumes the normal course of evolution of Picasso's art.
On February 4, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 17M including premium the half length portrait in an armchair, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted on 20 November 1955, where Jacqueline is adorned with multicolored turban and vest. Her face is almost realistic.
Another oil on canvas of the same series, 116 x 89 cm, dated 26 November 1955 is titled Femme accroupie au costume turc (Jacqueline). It was sold for $ 31M including premium by Christie's on November 6, 2007, lot 73. Drawing attention to the body rather than to the face, this figure is more erotic.
The theme is ostensibly following Delacroix but Picasso leaves no doubt about his real intention by declaring not without humor that he got the legacy of Matisse's odalisques. Remind that Les Femmes d'Alger is a project probably unique in the history of art where the artist carefully imitated several styles used by himself during his long career.
A new series of paintings beginning on November 19, 1955 combines this orientalist fantasy with the exploration of the face and body of his new muse Jacqueline Roque, shown in clothes and attitudes of a Turkish harem from Pablo's imagination. The style resumes the normal course of evolution of Picasso's art.
On February 4, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 17M including premium the half length portrait in an armchair, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted on 20 November 1955, where Jacqueline is adorned with multicolored turban and vest. Her face is almost realistic.
Another oil on canvas of the same series, 116 x 89 cm, dated 26 November 1955 is titled Femme accroupie au costume turc (Jacqueline). It was sold for $ 31M including premium by Christie's on November 6, 2007, lot 73. Drawing attention to the body rather than to the face, this figure is more erotic.
1955 The Small Versions of the Femmes d'Alger
2020 SOLD for $ 29M including premium
Henri Matisse died on November 3, 1954. Talkative about his own art but secret about his emotional reactions, Picasso did not communicate but it seems that the death of his old rival had deeply shocked him.
Picasso conceives a work which could appear as the continuation of the orientalist scenes by Matisse. His new muse, Jacqueline, resembles one of the odalisques in the Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix. The new project will be an amalgamation of that Delacroix and of the Nu bleu by Matisse.
From December 13, 1954 to January 18, 1955, Picasso painted six sketches 46 x 55 cm, sometimes limited to one detail. The day before the end of this first phase, he made an oil on canvas 54 x 65 cm which foreshadows the final work by its overall composition, its brilliant colors and the post-Cubist interweaving of forms.
The next phase is devoted to larger formats, including grisaille paintings which allow the details of the drawing to be worked out. The final version, 114 x 146 cm, is painted on February 14, 1955. The result meets what was undoubtedly Picasso's main objective : making a modern counterweight to the Demoiselles d'Avignon.
The fifteen paintings are exhibited together to be sold as a batch. For that purpose, they should not be considered as fourteen sketches and a final painting but as fifteen versions on the same theme, numbered from A to O in the chronological order of their execution.
Thus the dispersion will not be made under the control of the artist or his dealers but by the Ganz couple who bought the set in 1956 for owning the final version (O). The Ganzs will also keep for their collection one of the most complete sketches (C), a style typical of the time of Marie-Thérèse (H) and two grisailles of the final phase (K and M).
The selection of the Ganzs is much judicious. It does not include the 54 x 65 cm complete version of the first phase (F), probably because it does not bring much beside the O version. The F version will be sold by Christie's in New York on July 10, lot 52. The press release of May 15 devoted to a general view of the ONE auction event announces an estimate in the region of $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Picasso conceives a work which could appear as the continuation of the orientalist scenes by Matisse. His new muse, Jacqueline, resembles one of the odalisques in the Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix. The new project will be an amalgamation of that Delacroix and of the Nu bleu by Matisse.
From December 13, 1954 to January 18, 1955, Picasso painted six sketches 46 x 55 cm, sometimes limited to one detail. The day before the end of this first phase, he made an oil on canvas 54 x 65 cm which foreshadows the final work by its overall composition, its brilliant colors and the post-Cubist interweaving of forms.
The next phase is devoted to larger formats, including grisaille paintings which allow the details of the drawing to be worked out. The final version, 114 x 146 cm, is painted on February 14, 1955. The result meets what was undoubtedly Picasso's main objective : making a modern counterweight to the Demoiselles d'Avignon.
The fifteen paintings are exhibited together to be sold as a batch. For that purpose, they should not be considered as fourteen sketches and a final painting but as fifteen versions on the same theme, numbered from A to O in the chronological order of their execution.
Thus the dispersion will not be made under the control of the artist or his dealers but by the Ganz couple who bought the set in 1956 for owning the final version (O). The Ganzs will also keep for their collection one of the most complete sketches (C), a style typical of the time of Marie-Thérèse (H) and two grisailles of the final phase (K and M).
The selection of the Ganzs is much judicious. It does not include the 54 x 65 cm complete version of the first phase (F), probably because it does not bring much beside the O version. The F version will be sold by Christie's in New York on July 10, lot 52. The press release of May 15 devoted to a general view of the ONE auction event announces an estimate in the region of $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1959 Tête Sculptée de Dora Maar
2007 SOLD for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
At the beginning of 1941 Picasso relocates his series of busts of Marie-Thérèse, made ten years earlier at Boisgeloup, to his studio on rue des Grands Augustins. In the same year, he makes a plaster head of Dora Maar, 80 cm high. This domineering work, larger than life, is in an idealized style which is in total opposition to the dramatic or allegorical portraits of Dora that he was painting at the same period.
This plaster is edited in bronze in two copies by Susse in 1958 plus two copies by Valsuani at an undocumented date.
Picasso owed a debt of honor to Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. He had received a commission for the funeral monument of his friend in the Père Lachaise graveyard, but none of his projects had been accepted. In the mid-1950s he offered to provide the statue of Dora as a symbol of the ideal woman for a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés.
One of the Valsuani bronzes was installed in the square in 1959. The other was kept by the artist, which suggests that the cast by Valsuani was made especially for the Apollinaire project.
The copy which had been kept by Picasso was sold for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007 over a lower estimate of $ 20M, lot 22.
This plaster is edited in bronze in two copies by Susse in 1958 plus two copies by Valsuani at an undocumented date.
Picasso owed a debt of honor to Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. He had received a commission for the funeral monument of his friend in the Père Lachaise graveyard, but none of his projects had been accepted. In the mid-1950s he offered to provide the statue of Dora as a symbol of the ideal woman for a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés.
One of the Valsuani bronzes was installed in the square in 1959. The other was kept by the artist, which suggests that the cast by Valsuani was made especially for the Apollinaire project.
The copy which had been kept by Picasso was sold for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007 over a lower estimate of $ 20M, lot 22.
