巴布羅·畢加索

Private Collection (a gift from the artist in the 1940s)

Private Collection, Paris (by descent from the above)

Sale: Christie's, Paris, 21st May 2008, lot 6

Purchased at the above sale by the late owner

Executed on wove paper, and affixed at all four corners to the mount. Apart from some faint darkening to the extreme edge along the top, this work is in excellent condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the yellows have a slightly deeper tonality 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."

Nu allongé, executed in the winter of 1938, is a remarkable work from a period in Picasso’s career which was as dramatically affected by the conflicts in his own life as by those in the wider world. With its dynamic execution using a variety of media, from the frenetic scratching of his pen to the vibrant application of wax crayon, it is a masterful example of the artist’s superlative draughtsmanship and inventiveness. Following the completion of Guernica and his series Femme qui pleure, Picasso re-engaged in more sensual works in which he continued to use the style developed the previous year. Carsten-Peter Warncke suggests that ‘In Guernica Picasso had arrived at the formal idiom with which we automatically associate his name. It was to inform a diverse range of works without ever again breaching his system from within. Thus his work from 1937 till his death can be seen as expressing that one style – though of course shifts in emphasis indicate changes in the artist’s major interests. The first phase saw the years in which Picasso tested the possibilities of his new style. Initially individual in character, this process of evolution ran its course at a time that could hardly have been more turbulent, dangerous or uncertain, a time of great political crisis in Europe followed by the Second World War. Picasso’s art did reflect the existential menace of the age, but only indirectly’ (C.-P. Warncke, Pablo Picasso, Cologne, 1997, p. 403).

The striking frontality of Nu allongé, in which all features are contorted in order that they are as available as possible, is a powerful evocation of Picasso’s opinion: ‘Art can only be erotic’. Themes of sex and passion appeared in many guises throughout Picasso's work and John Richardson speaks of 'sex as metaphor for art, and art as a metaphor for sex' (J. Richardson, quoted in Marie-Laure Bernadac, 'Picasso 1953-1972: Painting as Model', in Late Picasso (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London, 1988, p. 77). After nearly a decade of obsessively painting nudes, mostly identifiable as Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso produced only a few during the late 1930s, concentrating instead on producing portraits. It was not until the early 1940s that the female nude features again so prominently, and their return also features a revival of a cubist style of execution (figs. 1 & 2).

Picasso’s nudes display a measure of turbulence, both in form and concept. In the present work the figure is both voluptuous and angular - possessing the features of both Dora Maar and Marie-Thérèse Walter. This conflation of their characteristics is central to the artist’s work and reflects the conflict that marked their relationship. According to Françoise Gilot, during the creation of Guernica, unable to endure the situation any longer, Marie-Thérèse confronted Dora in the artist's Grands-Augustines studio. Claiming her right to him as the mother of his child, Marie-Thérèse demanded that Dora leave. Dora refuted her claim and they continued to argue while Picasso painted on in the background. Eventually Marie-Thérèse appealed to Picasso to decide, but he could not, later commenting: ‘It was a hard decision to make. I liked them both, for different reasons: Marie-Thérèse because she was sweet and gentle and did whatever I wanted her to, and Dora because she was intelligent… I told them they have to fight it out themselves. So they began to wrestle’ (quoted in Mary Anne Caws, Dora Maar With & Without Picasso – A Biography, London, 2000, p. 113). Picasso later claimed that this incident was ‘one of [his] choicest memories’. This struggle continued in Picasso's dynamic representations of the female figure in which the features of both his lovers are coupled together.

The stylised features of Nu allongé reflect the powerful influence of the African sculptures Picasso collected assiduously throughout his life. These extraordinary figures and masks made a profound impact on his work. As early as 1907, when creating his earliest Cubist works such as Demoiselles d’Avignon, the ‘primitive’ features of African sculpture are first evident. Picasso’s enthusiasm for the aesthetic of the African tribes from Burkina Faso and Guinea remained undimmed and traces of it are found in works from every period of his œuvre. Sculptures such as the standing female figure carved by a member of the Mossi people (fig. 3), which Picasso owned and which was subsequently acquired by Jan Krugier, possess a correspondingly hieratic quality to the nudes he created in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In particular the stylisation of the features, such as the line of the nose continuing unbroken into a helmet-like comb that runs down to the neck is strikingly similar to Picasso’s treatment of Marie-Thérèse’s own physiognomy. Nu allongé is a wonderful example of the wealth of biographical and cultural influences that Picasso introduced into some of his most intimate works.