Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Buste de femme (Alice Derain)

Details

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Buste de femme (Alice Derain)
signed, numbered and stamped with foundry mark on the back 'Picasso 00 C.VALSUANI CIRE PERDUE'
bronze with dark brown patina
Height: 10½in. (26.6cm.)
Original clay version executed in Paris, 1905; this bronze version cast in 1960, number 00 in an edition of six with two artist's proofs

Provenance

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (acquired from the artist, 1968)
Jeffrey H. Loria and Co., Inc., New York
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar William Garbish, New York; estate sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, May 12, 1980, lot 8

Literature

R. Johnson, The Early Sculpture of Picasso 1901-1914, New York, 1976, fig. 33 (illustrated, p. 204)
P. Daix, La vie du peintre Pablo Picasso, Paris, 1977, p. 70
G. Tinterow, Master Drawings by Picasso, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1981, p. 58
W. Spies, Pablo Picasso: Das plastische Werk, Berlin, 1983, no. 5 (another cast illustrated, p. 326)

Exhibited

Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Hommage à Pablo Picasso, Nov.,1966-Feb.,1967, no. 210 (illustrated)
London, The Tate Gallery, Picasso Sculpture, Ceramics, Graphic Work , June-Aug., 1967, no. 5 (illustrated, p. 27)
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, The Sculpture of Picasso, Oct., 1967-Jan., 1968, no. 4 (illustrated, p. 53)

Lot Essay

When Picasso met Alice Géry, the future wife of painter André Derain, she was married to Maurice Princet, an insurance agent who was friendly with many artists. Picasso drew a portrait of Alice which he dedicated to her and dated 1905 (Zervos, vol. 1, no. 251). Picasso was then at the height of his Rose Period. Both the drawing and sculpture reflect the delicate characterization of the subject which is typical of this period, although the sculpture possesses a greater degree of naturalism and a physical presence which stem largely from its three-dimensional medium. This sculpture was in the collection of the artist until 1968.