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Lot Essay
*This lot may be exempt from sales tax as set forth in the Sales Tax Notice in the back of the catalogue.
Conceived in 1905, Le fou (The Jester), encapsulates Picasso's fascination with the life of the circus performer--a world characterized by artifice, decoration, masks and costumes. The present work symbolizes a shift for Picasso from the Blue to the Rose period and marks a new chapter of iconography for the artist.
It was in February, 1905 that Galeries Serrusier in Paris first exhibited a group of works from the Rose period. Eight pictures surrounding the Saltimbanque theme were listed in the exhibition catalogue. In his enthusiastic exploration of this subject, the artist produced Le Fou in the spring of the same year.
Werner Spies discusses the creation of this work, inspired by Picasso's close friend, the writer Max Jacob, as "nothing less than the description of a costuming, the transformation of a portrait of Max Jacob into an allegory" (op. cit., 2000, p. 23). Roland Penrose also describes the birth of the sculpture as "It was begun late one evening after returning home from the circus with Max Jacob. The clay rapidly took on the appearance of his friend, but the next day he continued to work on it and only the lower part of the face retained the likeness. The jester's cap was added as the head changed its personality" (ibid., p. 23).
The theme of the Jester's cap and the "crown" played an important role in the work of Picasso during this period. Spies examines Picasso's fascination with this device as he explains that " Picasso uses the cap not merely as an attribute for particular figures, but as an autonomous, visually enlivening accessory. He is clearly attracted by the geometric structure of the cap, a large triangle surrounded by lower, smaller ones; in many pictures it appears as an echo of the jester's diamond-patterned costume" (ibid., p. 24).
(fig. 1) Pablo Picasso, Le fou, 1925. BARCODE 20627454
Conceived in 1905, Le fou (The Jester), encapsulates Picasso's fascination with the life of the circus performer--a world characterized by artifice, decoration, masks and costumes. The present work symbolizes a shift for Picasso from the Blue to the Rose period and marks a new chapter of iconography for the artist.
It was in February, 1905 that Galeries Serrusier in Paris first exhibited a group of works from the Rose period. Eight pictures surrounding the Saltimbanque theme were listed in the exhibition catalogue. In his enthusiastic exploration of this subject, the artist produced Le Fou in the spring of the same year.
Werner Spies discusses the creation of this work, inspired by Picasso's close friend, the writer Max Jacob, as "nothing less than the description of a costuming, the transformation of a portrait of Max Jacob into an allegory" (op. cit., 2000, p. 23). Roland Penrose also describes the birth of the sculpture as "It was begun late one evening after returning home from the circus with Max Jacob. The clay rapidly took on the appearance of his friend, but the next day he continued to work on it and only the lower part of the face retained the likeness. The jester's cap was added as the head changed its personality" (ibid., p. 23).
The theme of the Jester's cap and the "crown" played an important role in the work of Picasso during this period. Spies examines Picasso's fascination with this device as he explains that " Picasso uses the cap not merely as an attribute for particular figures, but as an autonomous, visually enlivening accessory. He is clearly attracted by the geometric structure of the cap, a large triangle surrounded by lower, smaller ones; in many pictures it appears as an echo of the jester's diamond-patterned costume" (ibid., p. 24).
(fig. 1) Pablo Picasso, Le fou, 1925. BARCODE 20627454