- 18
Pablo Picasso
Description
- Pablo Picasso
- Deux Nus
- signed Picasso and dated 31.5.70.VII (lower left)
- pen and ink on paper
- 12 1/8 x 9 in.
Provenance
Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne
Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
Zurich, Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Picasso: Drawings, Watercolors, Pastels, 1988, n. 28, illustrated in the catalogue n.n.
Literature
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
His creativity is expressed notably in the many sketchbooks filled with numerous ink, pen and felt drawings. These studies were a means for Picasso to abandon himself to real experimentation. As is the case of the present work, he marked a number and date at the bottom of each of these drawings as if the better to emphasize their feverish succession. They are none the less guided by a logical and planned development.
Through these two sensual, sculpted figures Deux nus demonstrates how much Picasso, at the end of his life, managed to keep intact his sense of eroticism and his technical mastery. Here the artist gives one of his many interpretations of his favorite theme: the female nude. The techniques employed in the present work are diverse; the pure, serene line of the right hand figure evokes thus the classical works of the 1920s whilst the hatched lines sculpting the face of the left hand figure echo the masklike faces of the glorious years of the Demoiselles d'Avignon. Deux nus thus appears as the accomplished synthesis of the Spanish master's art who, only a few years before his death, was able to assert a creative genius that was still very much alive.