- 14
Pablo Picasso
Description
- Pablo Picasso
- Collage avec feuille, ficelle et tulle (Guitare)
- collage and pencil on paper
- 42 by 29cm.
- 16 1/2 by 11 3/8 in.
Provenance
Marina Picasso (the artist's granddaughter; by descent from the above)
Acquired from the above by the late owner
Exhibited
Venice, Centro di Cultura di Palazzo Grassi, Picasso, Opere dal 1895 al 1971 dalla Collezione Marina Picasso, 1981, no. 177, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Munich, Haus der Kunst; Cologne, Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle; Frankfurt, Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut & Zurich, Kunsthaus, Pablo Picasso, Sammlung Marina Picasso, 1981-82, no. 142, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art & Kyoto, Municipal Museum, Picasso, Masterpieces from Marina Picasso Collection and Museums in U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., 1983, no. 113, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
New York, Paul Rosenberg & Co., The Primacy of Design: Major Drawings in Black and Colored Media from the Marina Picasso Collection, 1983, no. 38, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria & Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Picasso, 1984, no. 87, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Geneva, Galerie Jan Krugier, Picasso, œuvres cubistes de la Collection Marina Picasso, 1986, no. 187, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Barcelona & Madrid, Fundacio Caixa de Barcelona, Picasso cubista 1907-1920, 1987, no. 24
New York, Jan Krugier Gallery, Picasso: Cubist Works from the Marina Picasso Collection, 1987, no. 48, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Tokyo, Tokyo Station Gallery, Pablo Picasso: Focused on Cubist Works from the Marina Picasso Collection, 1988, no. 39
Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Linie, Licht und Schatten. Meisterzeichnungen und Skulpturen der Sammlung Jan und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 1999, no. 133, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, The Timeless Eye. Master Drawings from the Jan and Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski Collection,1999, no. 147, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Miradas sin Tiempo. Dibujos, Pinturas y Esculturas de la Coleccion Jan y Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2000, no. 179, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Bern, Kunstmuseum, Picasso und die Schweiz, 2001-02, no. 93, illustrated in the catalogue
Vienna, Albertina, Goya bis Picasso. Meisterwerke der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2005, no. 140, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Munich, Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Das Ewige Auge - Von Rembrandt bis Picasso. Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2007, no. 182, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Literature
Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, œuvres de 1926 à 1932, Paris, 1955, vol. 7, no. 19, illustrated pl. 9
Werner Spies, Pablo Picasso. Das plastische Werk, Berlin & Düsseldorf, 1984, no. 64A, illustrated p. 330
The Picasso Project (ed.), Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture. Toward Surrealism, 1925-1929, San Francisco, 1996, no. 26-047, illustrated p. 56
Josep Palau i Fabre, Picasso. From the Ballets to Drama (1917-1926), Barcelona, 1999, no. 1642, illustrated in colour p. 463
Werner Spies, Picasso. The Sculptures, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2000, no. 64A, illustrated p. 350
Brigitte Léal, Christine Piot & Marie-Laure Bernadac, The Ultimate Picasso, New York, 2000, no. 563, illustrated in colour p. 236
John Richardson, A Life of Picasso. The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932, New York, 2007, illustrated in colour n.p.
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."
Catalogue Note
Bridging the gap between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art, these works are at once paintings and sculptures, while radically modifying the accepted definition of each medium. Collage avec feuille, ficelle et tulle (Guitare)and its companion pieces - most of which Picasso kept in his possession until the end of his life, and many subsequently entering the collection of the Musée Picasso in Paris - are a powerful testament to the artist's endlessly innovative spirit and his constant need to reinvent his own style and subject matter.
Writing about this group of collages including the present work, Josep Palau i Fabre commented: 'During the spring of 1926, Picasso furiously attacked the theme of the guitar, as if all the versions he had so far given us were not enough, as if he still had to extract unprecedented notes from the instrument. And he did. But what notes! They are hair-raising. This is not a return to the guitars of Cubism in order to renounce or contradict those he had been conceiving recently; it goes much further beyond. The guitar he now offers us is incapable of producing pleasant, harmonious music; it represents the destruction of all the preceding guitars. This constitutes revolution within revolution' (J. Palau i Fabre, op. cit., p. 462).
Christine Piot wrote: ‘After the large Guitar in painted metal of 1924 [fig. 2], Picasso made relief-paintings using the same motif. This work outside the realm of painting would bring him closer to the Surrealists, who, with Breton, appreciated the fact that the painter or sculptor was not prejudiced by the medium but sought “the perishable and the ephemeral.” […] With this ludicrous piece of makeshift construction, which combines tulle, braids, and buttons with the most modest materials (rag, dishcloth, string, cord, nails), Picasso took pleasure in violating the laws of painting. As Aragon would write in 1930, in “La Peinture au Défi”: “It happened that Picasso did a very serious thing. He took a dirty shirt and attached it to a canvas with a needle and thread.” Thus Picasso introduced raw reality into art in sometimes disturbing, if not hostile, forms’ (C. Piot in B. Léal, C. Piot & M.-L. Bernadac, op. cit., p. 232).