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Lot Essay
"They lived in a world of his own creation where he reigned almost as a king yet cherished only two treasures--freedom to work and the love of Jacqueline"
(David Douglas Duncan, Picasso and Jacqueline, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1988, p. 9)
Jacqueline Picasso, née Roque, met the artist in the summer of 1952 and became his second wife eight years later. She was his most frequently depicted muse, her distinctive features captured in multifarious ways. John Richardson--the definitive chronicler of Picasso's life--refers to their twenty years together as "the two Jacqueline decades", a reflection of the obsession, vitality and happiness which characterized the couple's relationship.
Buste de Femme au Chapeau is Picasso's greatest graphic representation of Jacqueline, and amongst the most striking portraits he created. The brilliant red which bathes the left side of Jacqueline's face is reminiscent of the warmth of a setting sun in the French midi. Jacqueline's eyes, oversized and unblinking, recall those ancient eyes of the Egyptian Fayum portraits, eyes painted wide to receive the future. Picasso's own mirada fuerte seems to have met its match in this imperious female gaze.
In this virtuoso linocut, Picasso gives us an extraordinary image of the woman who was unconditionally committed to him, and who in return provided the artist with an emotionally stable foundation on which to build the great legacy that his last twenty years represents.
(David Douglas Duncan, Picasso and Jacqueline, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1988, p. 9)
Jacqueline Picasso, née Roque, met the artist in the summer of 1952 and became his second wife eight years later. She was his most frequently depicted muse, her distinctive features captured in multifarious ways. John Richardson--the definitive chronicler of Picasso's life--refers to their twenty years together as "the two Jacqueline decades", a reflection of the obsession, vitality and happiness which characterized the couple's relationship.
Buste de Femme au Chapeau is Picasso's greatest graphic representation of Jacqueline, and amongst the most striking portraits he created. The brilliant red which bathes the left side of Jacqueline's face is reminiscent of the warmth of a setting sun in the French midi. Jacqueline's eyes, oversized and unblinking, recall those ancient eyes of the Egyptian Fayum portraits, eyes painted wide to receive the future. Picasso's own mirada fuerte seems to have met its match in this imperious female gaze.
In this virtuoso linocut, Picasso gives us an extraordinary image of the woman who was unconditionally committed to him, and who in return provided the artist with an emotionally stable foundation on which to build the great legacy that his last twenty years represents.