弗朗西斯·畢卡比亞

Galerie Augustinci, Paris

Private Collection, Versailles (acquired from the above in the 1950s)

Thence by descent to the present owner

Executed on white wove paper, not laid down, T-hinged to the mount at the top. There are artist's pinholes in the four corners and some time-staining to the edges. Apart from three small repaired losses on the upper edge and one small repaired loss towards the bottom of the left edge, and a few further nicks at the extreme edges, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the blue and orange pigment are brighter and more vibrant 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 early 1920s saw the disintegration of the Dada movement. Francis Picabia sought a new, more refined, mechanical aesthetic, alongside the reintroduction of those figurative elements which would form the basis of his later work. Cornély, executed in 1922, belongs to a group of paintings (fig. 1) and works on paper which are composed of non-ideogrammatic forms, often with enjoyably obscure, non-descriptive titles. William A. Camfield classified these important works as being executed in a ‘late Dada-machinist style’ (W. A. Camfield, Francis Picabia – His Art, Life and Times, Princeton, 1979, p. 191). ‘The term’, Francis N. Naumann explains, ‘indicates a formal connection between the Dada movement and Picabia’s earlier mechanomorphic paintings. The oils and watercolors produced in this period are characterized by a less harshly defined machine aesthetic, with sexual allusions, if any, expressed in only an indirect or enigmatic fashion. The principal subjects of these works were usually drawn from components within the realm of the physical sciences: astronomical charts, electrical symbols, optical experiments, illustrations of wave lengths, magnetic fields, etc. In most cases, these scientific elements are either presented within the context of a non-objective composition, or become the backdrop for a more complex figurative ensemble. Several paintings from this period incorporate circular wave patterns, while others present a field of horizontal or vertical bands, probably derived from a scientific diagram to illustrate diffracted light waves’ (F. N. Naumann in correspondence with Sotheby’s, 2013).

The Dada movement petered out amidst in-fighting and disaffection. Some chose to follow André Breton towards the formation of the Surrealist movement, whilst others such Tristan Tzara held on to their principles. In 1921 Picabia stated: ‘The Dada spirit really only existed between 1913 and 1918... In wishing to prolong it, Dada became closed... Dada, you see, was not serious... and if certain people take it seriously now, it's because it is dead! […] One must be a nomad, pass through ideas like one passes through countries and cities' (Francis Picabia quoted in Robert Motherwell, (ed.), The Dada Painters and Poets, London, 1989, p. 201). Indeed one of the artist’s famous aphorisms was: ‘If you want to have clean ideas, change them as often as you change your shirts’, and in creating the ‘Dada-machinist’ works, Picabia sought to re-invent his own visual repertoire.

The present work’s wild arabesques are drawn from the patterns which guided the manufacturing process of lace making, and the title refers to a popular sewing-machine built by Ercole Cornély in France which was capable of producing intricate stitching. This run-of-the-mill source, however, does not preclude other symbolic interpretations and allusions which hitherto formed a significant part of Picabia’s œuvre. The numerous circular elements in Cornély, some bisected like the head of a screw or closed eyelids, are quintessential Picabia; as Camfield writes: ‘Dots and circles, prominent in his work since 1912, became so ubiquitous during 1922 that he must have attached special significance to them. [...] they had already been used to represent wheels, gears, gramophone records, targets and erotic zones’ (W. A. Camfield, op. cit., p. 196).