Francis Picabia

Edmond Bomsel, France

Sale: Drouot Richelieu, Paris, 29th June 1994, lot 51

Helly Nahmad Gallery

Private Collection, Paris

Acquired from the above by the present owner

New York, The Little Gallery of The Photo Secession (291), Picabia, 1913

London, Institute of Contemporary Art & Newcastle upon Tyne, Hatton Gallery, Francis Picabia, 1964

Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Francis Picabia, 1976, no. 30, illustrated in the catalogue

'A Post-Cubist's Impression of New York', in New York Tribune, 9th March 1913, illustrated

William A. Camfield, Francis Picabia, His Art, Life and Times, Princeton, 1979, no. 69, illustrated

Maria Lluïsa Borràs, Picabia, London, 1985, no. 138, fig. 248, illustrated in colour p. 137

Executed on cream wove paper which appears not to be laid down, fixed to the backing board along all four edges. There is some time-staining to the sheet and a very small damage in the lower right corner where the paper is lifting. All four corners have been restored. Apart from a 5 by 0.2cm. loss towards the top of the extreme left edge (not visible when mounted), some tiny intermittent losses running along the lower part of the right edge, a 5.5cm. repaired tear running diagonally from the centre of the left edge, a very small repaired tear at the centre of the right edge and evidence of minor flattened creases in the four corners, this work is in good condition. Colours: In comparison to the printed catalogue illustration, the colours are overall less warm 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."

The present work was inspired by Picabia’s first visit to the New York City in early 1913, where he travelled to attend the now legendary Armory Show. The exhibition was organised by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, founded in December 1911 in opposition to the traditional National Academy of Design, and took place in New York in February-March 1913, before travelling to Chicago and Boston. Disappointed with the reception of his own and his friends’ art at the Salon d’Automne in Paris, Picabia decided to enter four paintings in the Armory Show, hoping for a more open-minded reception in America. The exhibition included a large number of works by Cubist, Expressionist, Fauve, Neo-Impressionist and Symbolist artists working in Europe. As the only French artist who could at the time afford to travel to New York, Picabia took on a role of a spokesman for the European avant-garde.

 

Picabia and his wife Gabrielle arrived in New York in January 1913. As William A. Camfield recounts: ‘in New York […], as the sole representative of the so-called European “extremists” and creator of two of the most notorious paintings in the exhibition Picabia became an instant celebrity. He was an obliging subject for a stream of interviews, and charmed a good many of his critics, who accorded his paintings and aesthetic theories voluminous coverage in the press. Two days after the Armory Show closed in New York, Alfred Stieglitz gave him a one-man exhibition at “291” which revived the hubbub over modern art and Picabia’s place in it. These events left a mark on American art – and on Picabia himself, who was stimulated not only by those art activities but by the entire vitality of the city and the people he met there, particularly those contributing to the golden age of Greenwich Village and the intellectual/artistic ferment at “291”’ (W. A. Camfield, op. cit., p. 41).

 

Picabia’s journey to America, as well as his stay in the City, were filled with excitement, and this time was marked by a great cultural and intellectual stimulation that resulted in an important shift in the artist’s career. Fascinated by New York’s architecture dominated by skyscrapers, its busy life and bright lights, as well as by the people he encountered there, Picabia executed several works depicting his impression of the city. Some of the watercolours and drawings on this theme, including the present work, were shown in Picabia’s exhibition staged by Stieglitz at his ‘Little Gallery of The Photo Secession’, also known by the name ‘291’ after its location at 291 Fifth Avenue. At the same time, the New York Tribune published an interview with Picabia, illustrating three of the exhibited works, including the present composition New York (fig. 1).

 

William A. Camfield wrote about this group of pictures (figs. 2 & 3): ‘Vestiges of recognizable forms exist in some of the works, for example, two watercolours of New York [including the present work] and studies for them which suggest ships, skyscrapers and puffs of smoke. However, the degree of abstraction is considerable […]. The expressive content of New York [in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago] is projected not by identifiable objects but by form, rhythm, color and composition’ (ibid., p. 48). In an interview published in the New York American on 30th March 1913, Picabia explained: ‘you should quickly understand the studies which I have made since my arrival in New York. They express the spirit of New York as I feel it, and the crowded streets of your city as I feel them, their surging, their unrest, their commercialism, their atmospheric charm… I absorb these impressions. I am in no hurry to put them on canvas. I let them remain in my brain, and then when the spirit of creation is at flood-tide, I improvise my pictures as a musician improvises music’ (Picabia in ‘How New York Looks to Me’, in New York American, 30th March 1913).

 

The first owner of record of the present work was Edmond Bomsel, who was a French publisher and a friend and associate of André Breton. Bomsel was a co-owner and editor of Editions du Sagittaire, which published a number of Surrealist volumes in the 1920s and 1930s. He also financed the opening of Galerie Gradiva in 1937, Breton’s gallery situated on rue de Seine, which exhibited works by the Surrealists alongside other objects such as books and Oceanic sculpture.