拍品專文
After the First World War there was throughout Europe a tremendous feeling of relief at the end of hostilities and a widespread expression of hope for the future. This manifested itself in art circles as a general desire for a "Return to Order". Douglas Cooper observed, "By 1918 the reaction against the brutality and destruction of the war, as well as against the violence and anarchy of Dada, was already so strong that artists, musicians and writers were all tending to substitute order for disorder, calm for violence, regular and generalised forms for the shattered forms which had prevailed for ten years or more" (Picasso Theatre, London, 1968, p. 63). In Picasso's art it was a return to realism.
Between 1918-1924 Picasso produced the series of monumental figure pictures which are neo-classical in style. Their inspiration is drawn from the classical art of the Greeks and Egyptians although intertwined with an appreciation of earlier neo-classical strands in French art as exhibited by Poussin, Ingres and late Renoir. Picasso was not alone in this return to the art of classical tradition, the work of Matisse, Laurens, Braque, Léger, Derain and Dufy all reflect the same inspiration at this period. However, Picasso did not abandon completely his researches into the language of synthetic Cubism. The two styles were developed side by side, Picasso treating them as of equal value. Of a similar Tête de Femme, Elizabeth Cowling writes, "This powerful work was one of a group of large pastel drawings Picasso made in Fontainebleau in the summer of 1921. They are all closely connected to the great painting Three Women at the Spring (Museum of Modern Art, New York), for which he made numerous preparatory sketches and a full-sized oil and sanguine cartoon (Musée Picasso, Paris). This one...like the other pastels, looks like a postscript rather than a study. Because of the difference in medium, the pastels are more sensual and more refined in effect than the painting itself, which is freely and boldly painted, and gives the illusion of a roughly carved, even unfinished, stone relief or a damaged fresco.
"All these works in pastel and oil are neoclassical: the volumes of the head are simplified and idealised; the nose and forehead are continuous; the hair is arranged in the traditional Greek manner; the eyes stare blankly; the expression is impassive. In general terms Picasso refers to Greek sculpture: among the surviving academic drawings after plaster casts that he made as a boy are two views of the archetypal classical eye and brow, and a copy of the Venus de Milo facing in the same direction as this pastel. He also refers to the bold simplifications of form and tone in Pompeian frescoes. Simultaneously, however, he acknowledges the neoclassical tradition from Poussin to Puvis de Chavannes, as if to insist on its living continuity from its origins to the present. Head of Woman also refers back to his own primitivist - classicist paintings done in late 1906 - so that his earlier work is considered as another stage in that tradition" (On Classic Ground, exh. cat., London, 1990, p. 213).
It is the sheer scale of proportion shown in such a picture as Tête de Femme that is immediately so striking. The head is larger than life and barely contained within the confines of the frame. So completely has Picasso digested the example of classical art that these figures inhabit a new world devoid of specific reference to classical origins. "C'est la monumentalité qui est visée et Picasso peut désormais se passer de toute distanciation primitiviste par y parvenir. L'extraordinaire séquence des géantes, celles des têtes de femme plus grandes que nature, témoignent de l'absolue maîtrise d'un métier qui joue simplement des écarts de proportion pour provoquer un total dépaysement monumental" (P. Daix, Picasso, Paris, 1980, p. 181). Although overtly real in appearance such pictures were perceived by Waldemar George in 1929 as being almost abstract in conception, "Je dirais que jamais Picasso n'a été aussi abstrait et aussi cérébral, aussi impénétrable et aussi hiératique, que dans ses grandes figures, constructions qui n'avaient plus d'humain que l'apparence" ("Picasso et la Crise de la Conscience artistique", in Chronique du Jour, Paris, June 1929, p. 4). This interpretation was affirmed recently by M. L. Bernadec in the exhibition catalogue Picasso et la Mediterranée, Athens, 1983, p. 5, "Les couleurs grises et roses de chairs caracteristiques de la période antique atteignent ici une douceur, une luminosité exceptionelles. L'exemple des grands nus tend bien à prouver que l'antiquité n'est pas pour Picasso un exemple, ni une discipline, mais une nouvelle manière d'aller au-delà des apparences". Picasso's neo-classical period lasted as long as his domestic harmony with his new wife Olga Kokhlova existed. Picasso had met Olga, a dancer in Diaghilev's company, in Rome in 1917. Marrying soon afterwards, Picasso withdrew somewhat from Parisian artistic circles. "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, ibid, p. 63). In February 1921 Olga bore Picasso a son, Paolo. Soon after Picasso rented a house at Fontainebleau. It was during the summer of 1921 that many of the major neo-classical works as well as the masterpieces of synthetic Cubism, were created. To some extent the physiognonomy of the Tête de Femme series and the Trois Femmes à la Fontaine is influenced by Olga's physical appearance. Nevertheless the heads are highly stylised, combining a strong sculptural quality using light and shade to create an immense sense of volume. Still, however, Picasso manages to retain the femininity of his subject, imbuing the massive physical proportions with a human sensitivity in the present work.
The slight tilt of the head in this Tête de Femme bears a marked relationship to the pose of the central figure of the Trois Femmes à la Fontaine, emphasising the almost family resemblance of all the heads in the latter period as well as the Tête de Femme pastels executed contemporaneously.
"This is the period of the marvellous women with heavy, passionate eyelids and the gift of motherhood. Very Spanish, although reminiscent of Greek antiquity. They are, in the opinion of many, the best of Picasso's work" (A. Leclerc, Picasso, London, p. 10).
Between 1918-1924 Picasso produced the series of monumental figure pictures which are neo-classical in style. Their inspiration is drawn from the classical art of the Greeks and Egyptians although intertwined with an appreciation of earlier neo-classical strands in French art as exhibited by Poussin, Ingres and late Renoir. Picasso was not alone in this return to the art of classical tradition, the work of Matisse, Laurens, Braque, Léger, Derain and Dufy all reflect the same inspiration at this period. However, Picasso did not abandon completely his researches into the language of synthetic Cubism. The two styles were developed side by side, Picasso treating them as of equal value. Of a similar Tête de Femme, Elizabeth Cowling writes, "This powerful work was one of a group of large pastel drawings Picasso made in Fontainebleau in the summer of 1921. They are all closely connected to the great painting Three Women at the Spring (Museum of Modern Art, New York), for which he made numerous preparatory sketches and a full-sized oil and sanguine cartoon (Musée Picasso, Paris). This one...like the other pastels, looks like a postscript rather than a study. Because of the difference in medium, the pastels are more sensual and more refined in effect than the painting itself, which is freely and boldly painted, and gives the illusion of a roughly carved, even unfinished, stone relief or a damaged fresco.
"All these works in pastel and oil are neoclassical: the volumes of the head are simplified and idealised; the nose and forehead are continuous; the hair is arranged in the traditional Greek manner; the eyes stare blankly; the expression is impassive. In general terms Picasso refers to Greek sculpture: among the surviving academic drawings after plaster casts that he made as a boy are two views of the archetypal classical eye and brow, and a copy of the Venus de Milo facing in the same direction as this pastel. He also refers to the bold simplifications of form and tone in Pompeian frescoes. Simultaneously, however, he acknowledges the neoclassical tradition from Poussin to Puvis de Chavannes, as if to insist on its living continuity from its origins to the present. Head of Woman also refers back to his own primitivist - classicist paintings done in late 1906 - so that his earlier work is considered as another stage in that tradition" (On Classic Ground, exh. cat., London, 1990, p. 213).
It is the sheer scale of proportion shown in such a picture as Tête de Femme that is immediately so striking. The head is larger than life and barely contained within the confines of the frame. So completely has Picasso digested the example of classical art that these figures inhabit a new world devoid of specific reference to classical origins. "C'est la monumentalité qui est visée et Picasso peut désormais se passer de toute distanciation primitiviste par y parvenir. L'extraordinaire séquence des géantes, celles des têtes de femme plus grandes que nature, témoignent de l'absolue maîtrise d'un métier qui joue simplement des écarts de proportion pour provoquer un total dépaysement monumental" (P. Daix, Picasso, Paris, 1980, p. 181). Although overtly real in appearance such pictures were perceived by Waldemar George in 1929 as being almost abstract in conception, "Je dirais que jamais Picasso n'a été aussi abstrait et aussi cérébral, aussi impénétrable et aussi hiératique, que dans ses grandes figures, constructions qui n'avaient plus d'humain que l'apparence" ("Picasso et la Crise de la Conscience artistique", in Chronique du Jour, Paris, June 1929, p. 4). This interpretation was affirmed recently by M. L. Bernadec in the exhibition catalogue Picasso et la Mediterranée, Athens, 1983, p. 5, "Les couleurs grises et roses de chairs caracteristiques de la période antique atteignent ici une douceur, une luminosité exceptionelles. L'exemple des grands nus tend bien à prouver que l'antiquité n'est pas pour Picasso un exemple, ni une discipline, mais une nouvelle manière d'aller au-delà des apparences". Picasso's neo-classical period lasted as long as his domestic harmony with his new wife Olga Kokhlova existed. Picasso had met Olga, a dancer in Diaghilev's company, in Rome in 1917. Marrying soon afterwards, Picasso withdrew somewhat from Parisian artistic circles. "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, ibid, p. 63). In February 1921 Olga bore Picasso a son, Paolo. Soon after Picasso rented a house at Fontainebleau. It was during the summer of 1921 that many of the major neo-classical works as well as the masterpieces of synthetic Cubism, were created. To some extent the physiognonomy of the Tête de Femme series and the Trois Femmes à la Fontaine is influenced by Olga's physical appearance. Nevertheless the heads are highly stylised, combining a strong sculptural quality using light and shade to create an immense sense of volume. Still, however, Picasso manages to retain the femininity of his subject, imbuing the massive physical proportions with a human sensitivity in the present work.
The slight tilt of the head in this Tête de Femme bears a marked relationship to the pose of the central figure of the Trois Femmes à la Fontaine, emphasising the almost family resemblance of all the heads in the latter period as well as the Tête de Femme pastels executed contemporaneously.
"This is the period of the marvellous women with heavy, passionate eyelids and the gift of motherhood. Very Spanish, although reminiscent of Greek antiquity. They are, in the opinion of many, the best of Picasso's work" (A. Leclerc, Picasso, London, p. 10).