Pablo Picasso

François Lachenal, Paris
Private Collection (by descent from the above)
Private Collection, France (sale: Christie’s, London, 23rd June 2005, lot 308)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Executed on a sheet of white wove paper taken from a sketchbook, not laid down, held in place by four transparent photo corners, and floating in the overmount. The left edge is perforated and all the perforations are intact. There is some extreme minor discolouration to the very extreme lower and right edges. This work is in overall very 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. 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."

Tête d'homme is a wonderful example of the powerful and incredibly self-reflective portraits Picasso produced in the late 1960s and 1970s. His iconography during this period was ever more focused on the character of the heroic male figure, such as his representations of the musketeer, the harlequin, the matador, the toreador and ultimately, the painter. These portraits of indistinct and anonymous masculine figures, each portrayed in dominant and powerful roles, act as reflections of the artist's own emotional and psychological spirit. Discussing Picasso's depictions of male figures, Marie-Laure Bernadac observed: 'If woman was depicted in all her aspects in Picasso's art, man always appeared in disguise or in a specific role, the painter at work or the musketeer. In 1966, a new and final character emerged in Picasso's iconography and dominated his last period to the point of becoming its emblem. This was the Golden Age gentleman, a half-Spanish, half-Dutch musketeer dressed in richly adorned clothing complete with ruffs... All of these musketeers are men in disguise, romantic gentlemen, virile and arrogant soldiers, vain, glorious and ridiculous despite their haughtiness' (Marie-Laure Bernadac, The Ultimate Picasso, New York, 2000, p. 455).

In the present work, the complex features of a human face are pared down to their most essential and bold elements. These keen contours serve to succinctly illustrate the core of the character at hand. Displaying his true mastery of the medium, the artist has achieved a heady sense of drama and playfulness with great economy of means, whereby no gesture or expression is spared. The energy that emits from the free and spontaneous style of Tête d’homme demonstrates Picasso's unwavering passion for his art and his unsurpassable creativity. The artist’s long-time friend José Bergamín writes of Picasso’s later portraits: 'In the latest period of Picasso’s art it is as if he has tried to cast off the devices by which the painter both masked and mirrored himself. And it seems to me that his last phase of irrepressible enthusiasm, of erotic and vital yes-saying, is a self-affirmation. For the mirror’s depth does not lie in the invisible secret its shadows conceal, but in the luminous picture it reveals to us. Like life itself. Art is the mirror of life because it has torn away death’s sinister mask of horror, which, like a domino mask covering the eyes, plays with ambiguity by half masking the living face to heighten the shadow of death upon it. We might say that Picasso’s art in the end presents his own maskless face because, as Nietzsche suggests, this face is his best mark' (quoted in Klaus Gallwitz, Picasso, The Heroic Years, New York, 1985, p. 16).