FRANCIS PICABIA | Effet d’automne au bord du Loing, Saint-Mammès

Galeries Georges Petit, Paris
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, March 24, 1958, lot 176
Maurice & Laure Montet, Paris (acquired by 1965)
Didier Imbert Fine Arts, Paris (acquired by 1990)
Sale: Christie’s, London, June 26, 2001, lot 188
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galeries Georges Petit, Francis Picabia, 1909, no. 15 (probably)
Paris, Galerie de Paris, La Cage aux Fauves du Salon d’Automne 1905, 1965, no. 57
Paris, Palais de Congrès, Picabia, Dandy et Héraut de l'Art du XX^e siècle, 1980-81, no. 13
Paris, Didier Imbert Fine Arts, Picabia, 1990, no. 1, illustrated in color in the catalogue

William A. Camfield, Beverley Calté, Candace Clements, Arnauld Pierre & Pierre Calté, Francis Picabia, Catalogue Raisonné, 1898-1914, vol. I, New Haven & London, 2014, no. 172, illustrated in color p. 217

The work is in very good condition. The board is sound. The surface is richly textured and the impasto well- preserved. There is some stable hairline craquelure in the thickest pigments. There is some minor frame abrasion and associated pin dots losses mostly along the left and top edges. Under UV light, there are some minor strokes of inpainting along all four edges, mostly along the top edge and the upper parts of the right and left edges. There are a few pindot strokes of inpainting in the sky.
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.

Effet d’automne au bord du Loing, Saint-Mammès dates from Picabia's early years—a period marked by eager exploration of the Impressionist style and indicative of his technical dexterity as a painter. These early paintings of the French countryside, ranging from the outskirts of Paris to the northern shores of Normandy, were typical of the evolving Impressionist aesthetic at the turn of the century. During this time, Picabia deftly and confidently transitioned from Impressionism to Neo-Impressionism to Fauvism at a rapid clip, demonstrating a commitment to constant exploration and evolution that would prefigure his significant future contributions to Cubism, Surrealism and the Dada movement, all the while defying any consistent categorization of his output.

While Picabia’s Impressionist works are extraordinary in method, only recently have they been re-evaluated and contextualized. As William Camfield writes: "Picabia's image has been so dominated by his Dada activities that even some friends have found it difficult to believe that he once was an Impressionist. Their surprise notwithstanding, virtually every artist who contributed to 'modern' art during the first decade of the twentieth century passed through an Impressionist or Neo-impressionist phase early in his career; Picabia is exceptional only in the fact that for him Impressionism was not merely a passing phase but a major period" (William Camfield, Francis Picabia: His Art, Life and Times, New York, 1979, p. 8).

Interestingly, many of Picabia’s works from this period were not painted en plein air, the preferred mode of the early Impressionists, but rather from his studio. He painted a number of them from photographs and even printed postcard reproductions of works by other artists, in essence producing copies of copies and establishing an early foray into appropriation and proto-Dada technique.