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Lot Essay
While Picasso's wife Jacqueline was the artist's chief model in his last years, the male figures in Picasso's late work have more varied sources. They are often an alternate representation of the artist himself, or they may be figures from fictional sources, such as the mousquetaires, or dead artists brought back to life, like Rembrandt or Degas. Prior to 1965, the young men and boys who feature in Picasso's paintings and drawings might easily recall faces or types that Picasso and Jacqueline encountered in day trips away from their home in Mougins. After November 1965, however, following major surgery, Picasso grew increasingly reclusive, relying ever more on memory and imagination to supply the many personages who populate his pictures.
One of the few men that Picasso regularly saw in his final years was his chauffeur Maurice Bresnu, who joined the Picasso household with his wife in early 1965. He served Picasso to the end of the artist's life and assisted his widow Jacqueline thereafter. Nicknamed "Nounours" ("Teddy-Bear"), Bresnu was an imposing, burly man. John Richardson has written, 'Henceforth Bresnu-like men with curly beards and blobs of dark hair would appear ever more frequently in the artist's imagery' (in 'The Bresnu Collection', catalogue introduction, sale, Christie's, New York, 19 November 1998, p. 6).
Tête d'homme barbu belongs to a series of paintings of busts and heads executed in Mougins in late May and June 1965, several of which share the same Bresnu-like characteristics of the beard and tight black curls. Picasso's overriding preoccupation in this series seems to be the simplification of form, and his ability to portray both features and the individual with a few choice brushstrokes is superbly conveyed. Dressed in a striped fisherman's jersey that recalls the artist's many depictions of himself wearing a similar garment, Tête d'homme barbu stares out at the viewer with strong, black eyes that echo the hair and beard that frame his face so powerfully and create such a strong contrast with the red of the background against which he is set.
One of the few men that Picasso regularly saw in his final years was his chauffeur Maurice Bresnu, who joined the Picasso household with his wife in early 1965. He served Picasso to the end of the artist's life and assisted his widow Jacqueline thereafter. Nicknamed "Nounours" ("Teddy-Bear"), Bresnu was an imposing, burly man. John Richardson has written, 'Henceforth Bresnu-like men with curly beards and blobs of dark hair would appear ever more frequently in the artist's imagery' (in 'The Bresnu Collection', catalogue introduction, sale, Christie's, New York, 19 November 1998, p. 6).
Tête d'homme barbu belongs to a series of paintings of busts and heads executed in Mougins in late May and June 1965, several of which share the same Bresnu-like characteristics of the beard and tight black curls. Picasso's overriding preoccupation in this series seems to be the simplification of form, and his ability to portray both features and the individual with a few choice brushstrokes is superbly conveyed. Dressed in a striped fisherman's jersey that recalls the artist's many depictions of himself wearing a similar garment, Tête d'homme barbu stares out at the viewer with strong, black eyes that echo the hair and beard that frame his face so powerfully and create such a strong contrast with the red of the background against which he is set.