Pablo Picasso

Acquired by the 1970s

Executed on cream wove paper affixed to a mount in two places on verso. Medium is a bit faded. There is a mat stain present around the extreme perimtere of the sheet and the sheet is slightly time darkened. There is a soft crease extending from the center of the right edge to the bottom edge, one inch from right edge. Another very minor crease extends horizontally across the sheet, slightly below the center of the left and right edges, otherwise fine. This work is in good condition.
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.

The present work is one of at least three portraits that Picasso rendered of Suzanne Bloch, famed Parisian opera singer best known for her interpretations of Wagner. In discussing the oil portrait (see fig. 1), widely considered one of Picasso's last Blue Period masterworks, Ettore Camesasca writes, "this portrait is marked by the emergence of a reflection about the plastic-chromatic structure of Cézanne’s works, in the scope of a post-impressionism, already absorbed in the problems which will make the art explode” (quoted in Luiz Marques, ed., Catálogo do Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand: arte francesa e Escola de Paris, São Paulo, 1998).

 

Fig. 1 Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, 1904, oil on canvas, São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo