Pablo Picasso

Private Collection, Europe
Acquired from the above in 2008

Michel Leiris, Dessins 1966-67, Catalogue, Paris, 1968, no.58
Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, oeuvres de 1964 à 1967, vol. XXVII, Paris, 1973, no. 101, illustrated pl. 30
The Picasso Project, Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture, Surrealism, 1964-1967, San Francisco, 1997, no. 67-328, illustrated p. 379

Work is in very good condition. Executed on thick cream wove paper. Affixed to card at several places along edges with slight undulation in sheet. Card is affixed to a mount. Upper edge of sheet is deckled. Minor staining to extreme perimeter of sheet and one small stain at center of composition. Sheet is very slightly time darkened with minor surface dirt. Line is very slightly faded, otherwise fine.
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.

Throughout his later years Picasso returned again and again to the subject of the painter and model. While there are many variations on this theme (lovers, musicians), the fundamental premise of overt sexual tension remains constant. At the time he completed the present work Picasso was in his late 80s, and had lost the youthful virility which defined him earlier in life. In Homme et femme, as in so many of his late works, Picasso seems determined to perpetuate his erotic life through artistic expression. This theme was made explicit by Picasso himself in an admission to Brassai: "whenever I see you, my first impulse is to...offer you a cigarette, even though I know that neither of us smokes any longer. Age has forced us to give it up, but the desire remains. It's the same thing with making love. We don't do it any more but the desire is still with us!" (cited in John Richardson, 'L'Epoque Jacqueline', Late Picasso: Paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints 1953-1972, London, 1988, p. 29).

In Homme et femme, the deep black orbs of the man's eyes hold a mesmeric and somewhat tragic voyeuristic power; especially as they contrast so markedly with the serene smile of the female figure. Picasso had always harbored interest in the role of the voyeur, but as an octogenarian, the realization of his rejuvenated self, empowered through the act of seeing, became acutely poignant. And the man here is not the only voyeur to be found- he is joined by a petite goat at lower left who looks on attentively. As Michel Leiris wrote: 'Taking Picasso's work as a whole, one does not have to research for long before one realises that the action - almost the absence of action - of looking is one of the most frequent themes' (M. Leiris, Picasso 1881/1973, London, 1973, p. 251).

This drawing is the vestige of a life committed to exploring themes related to the nature of looking as chronicled by that at once paradoxically incongruous and honest relationship:  the artist and the model.