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Lot Essay
Erotic art has existed throughout a long timeline in the history of art, the earliest known examples of which date back to the Palaeolithic period. Censored in more recent centuries as a result of shifting moral codes, many modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele, Jean Cocteau and George Grosz nevertheless continued to explore this realm in different ways, often in private or experiencing responses from outrage to litigation when their work was seen in public. Picasso’s inspiration can be seen to be derived not solely from his own world of fantasy, but refers to a long legacy of depicting the flesh in a manner no different to his appropriation of the old masters in other works, approaching themes from Ingres’ Le Bain turc and Raphael and La Fornarina, Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l'herbe and Poussin’s L'Enlèvement des sabines, all of which he explored within his later career.
It is of course no secret that Picasso’s entire œuvre is punctuated by his keen interest in the sexuality of the nude form, frequently intertwined with his personal response to different muses throughout his life. Through his sensual neoclassical works of the thirties and into his artist and Peintre et modèle series of the early sixties, Picasso had long been exploring the theme of the embrace, every new muse bringing a renewed creative energy to this recurring preoccupation. Picasso had married his young and beautiful new wife Jacqueline Roque in 1961 and his powerful desire and love for her was palpable in all works he created throughout their relationship thereafter.
Picasso drew the present work on 9 September 1968, a day of frenzied creative output focusing on his continued preoccupation with the theme of the lovers. He executed a group of works entitled L’étreinte, depicting two lovers in varying stages of sexual activity ranging from kissing to making love, inspired by Ingres’ theme of Raphael and La Fornarina. The works are each composed from the viewpoint of an onlooker to the left of the passionate scenes. Picasso’s close and intimate attention to detail is highlighted through the nude figures in the throes of an intense embrace. In 1968, the same year as this work was drawn, the artist applied it to a new suite of prints which were aptly titled 347 for the sheer number of works that he was able to create in just a few months.
The realisation of the Peintre et modèle theme, which informs this series and harps back to Ingres example, had been a creative breakthrough for Picasso at the beginning of the decade. Compositionally similar to the present work, and fundamental in leading to it, Picasso produced more than 150 canvases on the subject from 1963 onwards. Here, he portrays the nude model in varying poses, often to the right-hand side of the canvas, the painter on the left attempting to depict, to capture her in his work, separated by an easel-mounted canvas in the centre. Still subliminally referring to the lineage of nude representations he had explored, through Ingres, Manet, Hokusai and others, Picasso now removed the more obvious literary and artistic mise-en scène of these themes and focused on the central idea of the creative pursuit of the artist in the presence of his subject, devoid of external context. Marie-Laure Bernadac has asserted that "The more Picasso painted this theme, the more he pushed the artist-model relationship towards its ultimate conclusion: the artist embraces his model, cancelling out the barrier of the canvas and transforming the artist-model relationship into a man-woman relationship. Painting is an act of love, according to Gert Schiff, and John Richardson speaks of 'sex as a metaphor for art, and art as a metaphor for sex'" (Late Picasso, exh. cat., The Tate Gallery, London, 1988, p. 77). L’étreinte is the manifestation of this fantasy beyond the canvas, depicting the moment of embrace as equivalent to the artistic realisation of the artwork, his communing with the model and satisfying his creative and carnal desire.
And yet Ingres influence is not the only source material discernible here. Picasso had long held a fascination with Katsushika Hokusai’s erotic prints, holding examples in his own private collection. L’étreinte employs sinuous confident line in a masterfully intertwined composition that recalls Hokusai’s treatment of the erotic subject elaborated in series, such as is evident in Brocades from the East (Azuma nishiki) from 1812 and The Adonis Plant (Fukujusô) published between 1815 and 1817, probably his famous series of Shunga prints.
Picasso’s rendition of the erotic act in L’étreinte enacts the intensity of Hokusai’s work, of an interaction between partners with similarities of style to his treatment of line and form on paper. Depicting different scenes of the erotic encounter, he presents both an investigation of a range historical influences and techniques, and a meditation on desire; playful and risqué, in a spirit of sensuality.
When the artist’s exhibition of his recent paintings and drawings debuted at the Palais des Papes in Avignon in May 1970, many of the visitors were shocked to see his new works. Marie-Laure Bernadac wrote, 'Picasso made a single being out of two, expressing the carnal fusion brought forth by the act of kissing. Never had erotic power been suggested with such realism. He bared sexuality in an explicit way in the Embraces: "Art is never chaste," the painter said' (The Ultimate Picasso, New York, 2000, p. 458).
Now towards the end of his life, Picasso’s creative vigour had not yet stopped and his appetite for creation was as vivid as ever. Picasso’s sense of virility had been intertwined with his artistic prowess throughout his life and at this late stage in his career, figures of the painter, the musketeer and other characters who enact his fantasies increased in their frequency. Thus, at the point that his physical vitality may have been decreasing, contrary to his emotional and mental reality, Picasso’s work could continue to express his strength of imagination and desire which remained the same, demonstrating his enduring youth of spirit.
L’étreinte therefore represents a fantasy and a manifestation of desire, not only for the pleasures of the flesh but for the vitality of youth and the pursuance of his art. It shows his enduring interest in the masters of the past whilst remaining indefatigably fresh and vibrant in its treatment of the subject, an eternal and core metaphor in Picasso's visual language for the act of creation.
It is of course no secret that Picasso’s entire œuvre is punctuated by his keen interest in the sexuality of the nude form, frequently intertwined with his personal response to different muses throughout his life. Through his sensual neoclassical works of the thirties and into his artist and Peintre et modèle series of the early sixties, Picasso had long been exploring the theme of the embrace, every new muse bringing a renewed creative energy to this recurring preoccupation. Picasso had married his young and beautiful new wife Jacqueline Roque in 1961 and his powerful desire and love for her was palpable in all works he created throughout their relationship thereafter.
Picasso drew the present work on 9 September 1968, a day of frenzied creative output focusing on his continued preoccupation with the theme of the lovers. He executed a group of works entitled L’étreinte, depicting two lovers in varying stages of sexual activity ranging from kissing to making love, inspired by Ingres’ theme of Raphael and La Fornarina. The works are each composed from the viewpoint of an onlooker to the left of the passionate scenes. Picasso’s close and intimate attention to detail is highlighted through the nude figures in the throes of an intense embrace. In 1968, the same year as this work was drawn, the artist applied it to a new suite of prints which were aptly titled 347 for the sheer number of works that he was able to create in just a few months.
The realisation of the Peintre et modèle theme, which informs this series and harps back to Ingres example, had been a creative breakthrough for Picasso at the beginning of the decade. Compositionally similar to the present work, and fundamental in leading to it, Picasso produced more than 150 canvases on the subject from 1963 onwards. Here, he portrays the nude model in varying poses, often to the right-hand side of the canvas, the painter on the left attempting to depict, to capture her in his work, separated by an easel-mounted canvas in the centre. Still subliminally referring to the lineage of nude representations he had explored, through Ingres, Manet, Hokusai and others, Picasso now removed the more obvious literary and artistic mise-en scène of these themes and focused on the central idea of the creative pursuit of the artist in the presence of his subject, devoid of external context. Marie-Laure Bernadac has asserted that "The more Picasso painted this theme, the more he pushed the artist-model relationship towards its ultimate conclusion: the artist embraces his model, cancelling out the barrier of the canvas and transforming the artist-model relationship into a man-woman relationship. Painting is an act of love, according to Gert Schiff, and John Richardson speaks of 'sex as a metaphor for art, and art as a metaphor for sex'" (Late Picasso, exh. cat., The Tate Gallery, London, 1988, p. 77). L’étreinte is the manifestation of this fantasy beyond the canvas, depicting the moment of embrace as equivalent to the artistic realisation of the artwork, his communing with the model and satisfying his creative and carnal desire.
And yet Ingres influence is not the only source material discernible here. Picasso had long held a fascination with Katsushika Hokusai’s erotic prints, holding examples in his own private collection. L’étreinte employs sinuous confident line in a masterfully intertwined composition that recalls Hokusai’s treatment of the erotic subject elaborated in series, such as is evident in Brocades from the East (Azuma nishiki) from 1812 and The Adonis Plant (Fukujusô) published between 1815 and 1817, probably his famous series of Shunga prints.
Picasso’s rendition of the erotic act in L’étreinte enacts the intensity of Hokusai’s work, of an interaction between partners with similarities of style to his treatment of line and form on paper. Depicting different scenes of the erotic encounter, he presents both an investigation of a range historical influences and techniques, and a meditation on desire; playful and risqué, in a spirit of sensuality.
When the artist’s exhibition of his recent paintings and drawings debuted at the Palais des Papes in Avignon in May 1970, many of the visitors were shocked to see his new works. Marie-Laure Bernadac wrote, 'Picasso made a single being out of two, expressing the carnal fusion brought forth by the act of kissing. Never had erotic power been suggested with such realism. He bared sexuality in an explicit way in the Embraces: "Art is never chaste," the painter said' (The Ultimate Picasso, New York, 2000, p. 458).
Now towards the end of his life, Picasso’s creative vigour had not yet stopped and his appetite for creation was as vivid as ever. Picasso’s sense of virility had been intertwined with his artistic prowess throughout his life and at this late stage in his career, figures of the painter, the musketeer and other characters who enact his fantasies increased in their frequency. Thus, at the point that his physical vitality may have been decreasing, contrary to his emotional and mental reality, Picasso’s work could continue to express his strength of imagination and desire which remained the same, demonstrating his enduring youth of spirit.
L’étreinte therefore represents a fantasy and a manifestation of desire, not only for the pleasures of the flesh but for the vitality of youth and the pursuance of his art. It shows his enduring interest in the masters of the past whilst remaining indefatigably fresh and vibrant in its treatment of the subject, an eternal and core metaphor in Picasso's visual language for the act of creation.