Lot Essay
In the early 1920's Picasso followed the prevailing aesthetic reaction of his times and abandoned Cubism in favor of neo-classicism no doubt influenced by his trip to Italy in 1917. His first neo-classic compositions exhibited a ponderous figure style with a preponderance of giant draped or nude women in highly simplified settings of sea, horizon and sky.
Picasso's classical phase must also be seen as a reaction to
cubism, a reaction that was triggered partly by disgust at the
way second rate artists were trying to turn his and Braque's
discoveries into a picture making formula and partly be technical curiosity and restlessness ... This academism first manifested
itself in the Ingresque portraits of 1915 and in the drawings of
his mistress Gaby Lespinasse which recall the neo-classical
manner of Renoir. 'I wanted to show that I could draw like
anybody else', Picasso said, but he also wanted to give an
airing to the academic virtuoso that lurked within him. Picasso's classic tendency received further encouragement in 1917 when he
went to work with Daighilev in Italy. Rome was a revelation, and the marbels and Pompeiian frescoes that he saw in Naples showed
him the way towards the new style that we see in these pictures.
(J. Richardson, ed. Picasso An American Tribute, New York,
1962)
In a letter to Marius de Zayas in 1923 Picasso emphasised his experience of the vitality of classical art.
Repeatedly I am asked to explain how my painting evolved. To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot live
always in the present it must not be considered at all. The art
of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived
in other times, is not an art of the past; perhaps it is more
alive today than it ever was. (trans. The Arts, New York,
May, 1923)
By 1923 Picasso had virtually abandoned his colossel classical nudes for a style more in keeping with the grace and elegance of traditional neo-classicism. Defying the chronic modern prejudice against prettiness and sentiment he made a series of sweet figures of women in classic draperies ... (A. H. Barr, Jr.
Picasso Fifty Years of his Art, New York, 1946, p. 128)
Most of Picasso's enormous output of work at this time is
concerned in one way or another with his love for his new wife.
Olga, his happiness at becoming a new father, his affection for
his young son, or his curiosity about his new way of life and
his surroundings. (D. Cooper, Picasso Theatre, London, 1968, p. 63)
This standing woman is a fully worked version of the right hand figure in a similar work Femme au voile debout, deux hommes assis (Zervos vol. V, no. 171) sold at Christie's, New York on November 16, 1983.
Picasso's classical phase must also be seen as a reaction to
cubism, a reaction that was triggered partly by disgust at the
way second rate artists were trying to turn his and Braque's
discoveries into a picture making formula and partly be technical curiosity and restlessness ... This academism first manifested
itself in the Ingresque portraits of 1915 and in the drawings of
his mistress Gaby Lespinasse which recall the neo-classical
manner of Renoir. 'I wanted to show that I could draw like
anybody else', Picasso said, but he also wanted to give an
airing to the academic virtuoso that lurked within him. Picasso's classic tendency received further encouragement in 1917 when he
went to work with Daighilev in Italy. Rome was a revelation, and the marbels and Pompeiian frescoes that he saw in Naples showed
him the way towards the new style that we see in these pictures.
(J. Richardson, ed. Picasso An American Tribute, New York,
1962)
In a letter to Marius de Zayas in 1923 Picasso emphasised his experience of the vitality of classical art.
Repeatedly I am asked to explain how my painting evolved. To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot live
always in the present it must not be considered at all. The art
of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived
in other times, is not an art of the past; perhaps it is more
alive today than it ever was. (trans. The Arts, New York,
May, 1923)
By 1923 Picasso had virtually abandoned his colossel classical nudes for a style more in keeping with the grace and elegance of traditional neo-classicism. Defying the chronic modern prejudice against prettiness and sentiment he made a series of sweet figures of women in classic draperies ... (A. H. Barr, Jr.
Picasso Fifty Years of his Art, New York, 1946, p. 128)
Most of Picasso's enormous output of work at this time is
concerned in one way or another with his love for his new wife.
Olga, his happiness at becoming a new father, his affection for
his young son, or his curiosity about his new way of life and
his surroundings. (D. Cooper, Picasso Theatre, London, 1968, p. 63)
This standing woman is a fully worked version of the right hand figure in a similar work Femme au voile debout, deux hommes assis (Zervos vol. V, no. 171) sold at Christie's, New York on November 16, 1983.