- 363
Françoise Gilot
Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 USD
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Description
- Françoise Gilot
- Étude bleue
- Signed F. Gilot (lower right); titled and dated Juillet 53 (on the reverse)
- Oil on board
- 57 7/8 by 45 3/8 in.
- 147 by 115.2 cm
Provenance
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Françoice Gilot, Paris & New York
Private Collection, La Jolla (acquired from the artist via Mel Yoakum)
Acquired from the above
Françoice Gilot, Paris & New York
Private Collection, La Jolla (acquired from the artist via Mel Yoakum)
Acquired from the above
Literature
Françoise Gilot, Françoise Gilot, Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, illustrated in color pp. 14 & 16
Condition
Board is sound. Colors are bright and fresh with a richly textured surface. Pindot loss to the brown pigment to the right of her legs. Some minor cracking in the black pigment on her right shoulder. Under UV light portions of the red pigment along and near the bottom edge fluoresces in some scattered small areas. Most appear to be fluoresces from an uneven varnish and in one or two instances from retouching, otherwise fine. This work is in 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.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
Gilot’s mesmerizing self-portrait, Étude bleue, dates from 1953, a pivotal year in both the artist’s life and career. Painted shortly after her first ever one-woman exhibition, held at Galerie Louise Leiris in 1952, and only a few months before she left Picasso for good, this confident self-portrait is an evocative expression of Gilot’s burgeoning autonomy.
In 1949 Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler had offered Gilot a contract to become her exclusive dealer—she would be one of only two women artists ever under contract with Kahnweiler during his entire influential career as a dealer—and in 1952 she received even further encouragement with subsidiary contracts from both the Curt Valentin Gallery in New York and the Leicester Gallery in London. This afforded her a measure of independence and occasioned an important increase in the scale and ambition of her paintings typified by the virtuoso handling of line and color which characterizes the present work.
For Gilot, the act of painting a self-portrait was first and foremost a vehicle for experimentation with color and mood. In Étude Bleue, the informal, comfortable pose and serene atmosphere is intensified by a bold clash of complementary colors. Gilot recalled that the entire composition was organized around the juxtaposition of deep blue and bright orange: “The cerulean costume sets the climate and it is the arms and the face that glow with an orange brilliancy” (Françoise Gilot, Françoise Gilot, Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, p. 14). Picasso had introduced Gilot to Henri Matisse early on in their courtship and the two experienced an almost instantaneous complicity. Gilot’s powerful manipulation of color in the present work is a veritable homage to the man whom she considered the maestro of light and color. She would often quote Matisse’s conviction that “color is the result of a condensed sensation, therefore it is intuitive and passionate.”
In 1949 Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler had offered Gilot a contract to become her exclusive dealer—she would be one of only two women artists ever under contract with Kahnweiler during his entire influential career as a dealer—and in 1952 she received even further encouragement with subsidiary contracts from both the Curt Valentin Gallery in New York and the Leicester Gallery in London. This afforded her a measure of independence and occasioned an important increase in the scale and ambition of her paintings typified by the virtuoso handling of line and color which characterizes the present work.
For Gilot, the act of painting a self-portrait was first and foremost a vehicle for experimentation with color and mood. In Étude Bleue, the informal, comfortable pose and serene atmosphere is intensified by a bold clash of complementary colors. Gilot recalled that the entire composition was organized around the juxtaposition of deep blue and bright orange: “The cerulean costume sets the climate and it is the arms and the face that glow with an orange brilliancy” (Françoise Gilot, Françoise Gilot, Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, p. 14). Picasso had introduced Gilot to Henri Matisse early on in their courtship and the two experienced an almost instantaneous complicity. Gilot’s powerful manipulation of color in the present work is a veritable homage to the man whom she considered the maestro of light and color. She would often quote Matisse’s conviction that “color is the result of a condensed sensation, therefore it is intuitive and passionate.”