- 45
Pablo Picasso
Description
- Pablo Picasso
- Le Chat accroupi
- Stamped with foundry mark C. Valsuani Cire Perdue and numbered 1/6
- Bronze
- Length: 20 1/4 in.
- 51.4 cm
Provenance
Acquired from the above
Literature
Roland Penrose, ed., The Sculpture of Picasso (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1967, no. 79, illustration of another cast p. 97 (as dating from 1944)
Werner Spies, Sculpture by Pablo Picasso with a catalogue of the works, New York, 1971, no. 278, illustration of another cast p. 281 (as dating from 1944)
Marie-Laure Besnard-Bernadac, Michèle Richet & Hélène Seckel, eds., The Picasso Museum, Paris, New York, 1985, no. 372, illustration of another cast p. 179
Elizabeth Cowling & John Golding, eds., Picasso: Sculptor/Painter (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London, 1994, plaster illustrated in a photograph p. 128
The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso’s Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture. Nazi Occupation: 1940-1944, San Francisco, 1999, no. 43-348, illustration of the Picasso Museum cast p. 303
Werner Spies, Picasso Sculpteur, Catalogue raisonné des sculptures établi en collaboration avec Christine Piot, Paris, 2000, no. 278,II, illustration of another cast pp. 221 & 264
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.
Catalogue Note
Discussing the post-war evolution of Picasso’s large-scale models of other animals that held a particular symbolic significance for him, such as Le Taureau of 1949-50 or La Chèvre of 1950, Elizabeth Cowling writes: “Picasso’s love of animals was legendary and they invariably responded to him instantly. Even in the early Paris days when he was struggling and penniless, he surrounded himself with a menagerie which included various dogs, a monkey, a tame mouse that lived in a drawer of his studio and, later on, a cat… It was difficult to keep animals in wartime Paris, but pigeons and owls were to be seen in the upper studios in the rue des Grands-Augustins, and the dog Kazbek was in constant attendance” (Elizabeth Cowling & John Golding, Picasso: Sculptor/Painter (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London, 1994, p. 32).
Picasso particularly admired the willfully independent nature of cats, the more feral the better: "I don't like high-class cats that purr on the couch in the parlor, but I adore cats that have turned wild, their hair standing on end. They hunt birds, prowl, roam the streets like demons. They cast their wild eyes at you, ready to pounce on your face. And have you noticed that female cats in the wild are always pregnant? Obviously they think of nothing but love" (quoted in Brassaï, Conversations with Picasso, Chicago, 1999, p. 60). The crouched yet alert pose of the present cat reminds the viewer that this creature is by indelible instinct a solitary and skillful predator, aptly equipped to navigate the streets in its struggle for existence.
“Picasso likes to keep his sculpture around him as his companions” Edward Quinn observed in 1964; “set out haphazardly without regard for shape, scale or kind, each piece takes on a more intense personality. They become surprisingly alive against the background [of his daily life]” (op. cit., n.p.). Picasso kept another bronze cast of the present work in his personal collection—where it took pride of place alongside his Chat of 1941 in the central room at La Californie —until the end of his life, when it was gifted to the Picasso Museum in Paris by his heirs.