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Lot Essay
This drawing represents Picasso in his most Orientalist mood; the scene is so richly characterized that it could easily illustrate a scene out of the classic The Thousand and One Nights. Indeed, two weeks later, on 15 January 1968, Picasso executed a drypoint etching titled Schahrazade, which shows the famous story-teller of the Nights regaling her king with a tale (Baer, no. 1495). In the present drawing she offers for his gaze an unabashedly seductive pose, as she holds up a somewhat oversized hummingbird, whose feathers are traditionally considered a love charm.
Picasso's Orientalism is a late phenomenon in his work, and becomes to the fore following the death of Matisse in 1954. Picasso executed his sequence of paintings based on Delacroix's Les femmes d'Alger in late 1954 and early 1955 as a tribute to his admired and recently deceased friend. "At his death," Picasso said, "he bequeathed me his odalisques" (quoted in M.-L. Bernadac, The Ultimate Picasso, New York, 2000, p. 405). Picasso was also intrigued at the resemblance of his new love, Jacqueline Roque, to one of the figures in Delacroix's painting. John Richardson discussed another source for Picasso's fascination with the Near East: "Even television played a role in the development of Picasso's late style. To distract herself during the long hours when her husband was working, Jacqueline bought a television set. The two of them developed a taste for old movies. One film in particular, The Lives of the Bengal Lancers, triggered a series of drawings - a sultan surrounded by big-bosomed odalisques." (in "L'époque Jacqueline," Late Picasso, exh. cat., The Tate Gallery, London, 1988, p. 29).
The present drawing was done on New Year's Eve, 1967, with another drawing Nu, chèvre et oriental (numbered "III"; Zervos, vol. 27, no. 170). This pair of drawings set Picasso's agenda for the first couple of months in the new year, leading to the production of more than 30 drawings that show odalisques cavorting with eastern potentates, or bathing within the confines of the seraglio (a nod in the direction of Ingres' Orientalist Le bain turc). In late February 1968 Picasso continued in a similar vein, but with a significant change of scene, as he installed his voluptuous courtesans in a 17th century Spanish bordello, attended by their procuress and an assortment of cavaliers.
Picasso's Orientalism is a late phenomenon in his work, and becomes to the fore following the death of Matisse in 1954. Picasso executed his sequence of paintings based on Delacroix's Les femmes d'Alger in late 1954 and early 1955 as a tribute to his admired and recently deceased friend. "At his death," Picasso said, "he bequeathed me his odalisques" (quoted in M.-L. Bernadac, The Ultimate Picasso, New York, 2000, p. 405). Picasso was also intrigued at the resemblance of his new love, Jacqueline Roque, to one of the figures in Delacroix's painting. John Richardson discussed another source for Picasso's fascination with the Near East: "Even television played a role in the development of Picasso's late style. To distract herself during the long hours when her husband was working, Jacqueline bought a television set. The two of them developed a taste for old movies. One film in particular, The Lives of the Bengal Lancers, triggered a series of drawings - a sultan surrounded by big-bosomed odalisques." (in "L'époque Jacqueline," Late Picasso, exh. cat., The Tate Gallery, London, 1988, p. 29).
The present drawing was done on New Year's Eve, 1967, with another drawing Nu, chèvre et oriental (numbered "III"; Zervos, vol. 27, no. 170). This pair of drawings set Picasso's agenda for the first couple of months in the new year, leading to the production of more than 30 drawings that show odalisques cavorting with eastern potentates, or bathing within the confines of the seraglio (a nod in the direction of Ingres' Orientalist Le bain turc). In late February 1968 Picasso continued in a similar vein, but with a significant change of scene, as he installed his voluptuous courtesans in a 17th century Spanish bordello, attended by their procuress and an assortment of cavaliers.