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Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from Maya Widmaier-Picasso dated Paris le 3 Avril 2005.
This drawing is the second of two that Picasso executed on 30 October 1970 (for the first, see lot 317). The composition in both drawings stems from the painting Homme et nu couché, which Picasso painted two days before (Z., vol. 32, no. 294). Both drawings are in turn related to a large canvas that the artist painted the same day, Nu couché à la couronne de fleurs (Z., vol. 32, no. 295). Picasso rendered the first drawing in a loose, very casual manner, yielding forms that are gently classical in feeling. The male head in the background of that study seems to come out of Greek or Roman mythology. This second study is also classical in tone, although Picasso has rendered it in a more aggressive manner. He has accentuated the girl's breasts, and the male visage, clearly that of a musketeer, stares at her with passion and longing in his eyes. The female head contains traces of the distortions seen in the Jacqueline studies elsewhere in this sketchbook.
This drawing represents an interim stage between the first study and the oil painting. Instead of the three-quarter view of the nude's head seen here, Picasso opted in the painting for a variant of the Jacqueline profile seen in a drawing done the day before, 29.10.70.I (lot 310), and more contorted forms for her body. The painting is consequently less classical in attitude than either of the studies, although Picasso alluded to ancient ritual with the introduction of the garland of flowers and veil.
This drawing is the second of two that Picasso executed on 30 October 1970 (for the first, see lot 317). The composition in both drawings stems from the painting Homme et nu couché, which Picasso painted two days before (Z., vol. 32, no. 294). Both drawings are in turn related to a large canvas that the artist painted the same day, Nu couché à la couronne de fleurs (Z., vol. 32, no. 295). Picasso rendered the first drawing in a loose, very casual manner, yielding forms that are gently classical in feeling. The male head in the background of that study seems to come out of Greek or Roman mythology. This second study is also classical in tone, although Picasso has rendered it in a more aggressive manner. He has accentuated the girl's breasts, and the male visage, clearly that of a musketeer, stares at her with passion and longing in his eyes. The female head contains traces of the distortions seen in the Jacqueline studies elsewhere in this sketchbook.
This drawing represents an interim stage between the first study and the oil painting. Instead of the three-quarter view of the nude's head seen here, Picasso opted in the painting for a variant of the Jacqueline profile seen in a drawing done the day before, 29.10.70.I (lot 310), and more contorted forms for her body. The painting is consequently less classical in attitude than either of the studies, although Picasso alluded to ancient ritual with the introduction of the garland of flowers and veil.