Pablo Picasso

Maya Ruiz-Picasso, Paris
Galerie Europe, Paris
Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal
Malborough-Godard, Toronto
Galleria Marescalchi, Bologna
Meridian Fine Art, New York
Private Collection, Switzerland
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2011

Geneva, Musée de l'Athénée, Picasso intime, Collection Maya Ruiz-Picasso, 1981, no. 86, illustrated in the catalogue
Tokyo, Fuji Television Gallery, Picasso, 1982, no. 81, illustrated in the catalogue
Zurich, Art Focus, Picasso, 2000, no. 34, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso œuvres de 1946 à 1953, Paris, 1963, vol. XV, no. 2, illustrated p. 2
The Picasso Project (ed.), Picasso's Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings and Sculpture, Liberation and Post-War Years 1944-1949, San Francisco, 2000, no. 46-115, illustrated p. 98

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid, attached to the mount at the upper two corners. The lower edge is deckled. The collage elements are secure. There is some scattered minor foxing, some small spots of staining to the extreme lower edge and a minor crease to the centre of the upper edge. The sheet is slightly time-stained, and very gently undulating in places. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition. Colours: overall fairly accurate, the brown collage element is slightly lighter 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."

Mythological creatures were an important recurring motif in Picasso’s œuvre. The character of the faun was a particular source of intrigue for the artist: it bore the essential qualities of a man with sufficient physical ‘additions’ of a goat to suggest its bestial impulses. Picasso emphasises its horns in his oil painting Head of a Faun (fig. 1), but balances them with a jutting human neckline. It was a whimsical and capricious creature whose hybrid form offered a metaphor for the roguish nature of man. The summer of 1946 was an especially joyous one for Picasso: he had fallen in love with Françoise Gilot two years earlier and she had finally come to live with him in April of 1946. This collage is immediately engaging as the faun directly confronts us and invites us to appraise its unkempt hair and swirling eyes. The collage element adds texture and vibrancy to the work and nods to his past experiments in synthetic cubism. This faun, with all its virility and energy, reflects Picasso’s present sense of joy as he finds himself in love and full of creative fervour: a month after Picasso executed Tête de Faune Barbue, Françoise Gilot would become pregnant with their first child.