- 362
Françoise Gilot
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
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Description
- Françoise Gilot
- The Guardian
- Signed F. Gilot. and dated 93 (lower left)
- Oil on canvas
- 30 1/8 by 24 1/8 in.
- 76.5 by 61.4 cm
Provenance
Mann Gallery, New Orleans
Acquired from the above in March 2002
Acquired from the above in March 2002
Condition
This work is in excellent condition. Canvas is unlined. The surface of the work bears a rich and varied texture, which is indicative of the artist's process. Surface is clean. Under UV light no inpainting is apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Fig. 1 Pablo Picasso, Hibou sur une chaise, 1947, oil on canvas, Private Collection
The present work was painted in 1993, exactly forty years after Françoise Gilot parted from Picasso in 1953 following a shared ten-year relationship. The subject of the owl clearly harks back to their time together, and to a particular period in 1946 when the couple adopted a baby owl, an experience which would inspire Picasso’s celebrated series of "hibou" paintings, sculptures and ceramics in the years that followed. Gilot describes the incident in her memoirs: “While Pablo was still working at the Musée d'Antibes [in 1946, the photographer Michel] Sima had come to us one day with a little owl he had found in a corner of the museum. One of his claws had been injured. We bandaged it and it gradually healed. We bought a cage for him and when we returned to Paris we brought him back with us and put him in the kitchen with the canaries, the pigeons and the turtledoves. He smelled awful and ate nothing but mice. Every time the owl snorted at Picasso he would shout, Cochon, Merde, and a few other obscenities, just to show that he was even worse-mannered than him, but Picasso’s fingers, though small, were tough and the owl didn’t hurt him. Finally the owl would let him scratch his head and gradually came to perch on his finger instead of biting it, but even so, he still looked very unhappy” (Françoise Gilot, My Life with Picasso, New York, 1964, pp. 144-45).
Quite apart from its reference to this extraordinary period in Gilot’s life, the present work also stands in its own right as an image of great force and compositional clarity. This is a painting by a bold and accomplished colorist and in this respect the work arguably owes more to Gilot’s old friend Matisse than to Picasso’s many depictions of the subject. The bright blue background speaks of romance and mystery and is masterfully offset by the accents of complementary yellow and gold pigments, both on the owl and the tree trunk too. Gilot’s statements about her earliest experience of color leave us in little doubt about its central role in her oeuvre and help us to better understand the concerns behind her extraordinary artistic vision: “each time we open our eyes, we experience a new birth. Whenever all the sensations from the external world rush towards us, tones, shapes and textures seem to fight for precedence, but in my earliest childhood remembrances, color always prevails" (Françoise Gilot, in Mel Yaokum, ed., Françoise Gilot, Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, p. 13).
The present work was painted in 1993, exactly forty years after Françoise Gilot parted from Picasso in 1953 following a shared ten-year relationship. The subject of the owl clearly harks back to their time together, and to a particular period in 1946 when the couple adopted a baby owl, an experience which would inspire Picasso’s celebrated series of "hibou" paintings, sculptures and ceramics in the years that followed. Gilot describes the incident in her memoirs: “While Pablo was still working at the Musée d'Antibes [in 1946, the photographer Michel] Sima had come to us one day with a little owl he had found in a corner of the museum. One of his claws had been injured. We bandaged it and it gradually healed. We bought a cage for him and when we returned to Paris we brought him back with us and put him in the kitchen with the canaries, the pigeons and the turtledoves. He smelled awful and ate nothing but mice. Every time the owl snorted at Picasso he would shout, Cochon, Merde, and a few other obscenities, just to show that he was even worse-mannered than him, but Picasso’s fingers, though small, were tough and the owl didn’t hurt him. Finally the owl would let him scratch his head and gradually came to perch on his finger instead of biting it, but even so, he still looked very unhappy” (Françoise Gilot, My Life with Picasso, New York, 1964, pp. 144-45).
Quite apart from its reference to this extraordinary period in Gilot’s life, the present work also stands in its own right as an image of great force and compositional clarity. This is a painting by a bold and accomplished colorist and in this respect the work arguably owes more to Gilot’s old friend Matisse than to Picasso’s many depictions of the subject. The bright blue background speaks of romance and mystery and is masterfully offset by the accents of complementary yellow and gold pigments, both on the owl and the tree trunk too. Gilot’s statements about her earliest experience of color leave us in little doubt about its central role in her oeuvre and help us to better understand the concerns behind her extraordinary artistic vision: “each time we open our eyes, we experience a new birth. Whenever all the sensations from the external world rush towards us, tones, shapes and textures seem to fight for precedence, but in my earliest childhood remembrances, color always prevails" (Françoise Gilot, in Mel Yaokum, ed., Françoise Gilot, Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, p. 13).