Pablo Picasso

Private Collection (acquired from the artist circa 1925)
Private Collection, Switzerland (by descent from the above. Sold: Christie's, London, 26^th June 2001, lot 251)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, œuvres de 1920 et 1922, Paris, 1951, vol. 4, no. 421, illustrated pl. 174
The Picasso Project, Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculptures, Neoclassicism II 1922-1924, San Francisco, 1996, no. 22-189, illustrated p. 66

The canvas is unlined and there is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. This work is in excellent original condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although slightly less red in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Verre et compotier is one of a number of still-lifes that Picasso painted in the early 1920s, whose style developed out of the artist's pre-war Cubist experiments. With the sobriety of the war years behind him, Picasso began to combine pure colour with powerful linear black shading to express volume and space. In 1938 Gertrude Stein wrote: 'During this period... the cubic forms were continually being replaced by surfaces and lines, the lines were more important than anything else, they lived by and in themselves, he painted his pictures not by means of his objects, but by the lines' (G. Stein, Picasso, London, 1938, pp. 27-8).

In the present work, Picasso cunningly combines both natural and Cubist elements, abandoning the decorative approach for a busy linearity and angularity of forms. Although the bottle and glass have been reduced to plain geometric forms, the composition is enlivened by colourful patterns and thick horizontal and vertical lines resulting in a complex construction of flat, interlocking planes.

Discussing this phase of Picasso's Cubism, Sir John Richardson notes that these still-lifes 'are astonishingly varied in their dazzling colours, elaborate patterning, rich textures and complex compositions. No longer did Picasso feel obliged to investigate the intricate formal and spatial problems that had preoccupied him ten years before. Instead he felt free to relax and exploit his cubist discoveries in a decorative manner that delights the eye' (J. Richardson, Picasso, An American Tribute (exhibition catalogue), Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1962).