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拍品專文
Set in a verdant, emerald green garden, a nude model reclines, observed by an artist who stands before his easel, brush and palette in hand. Like a vision of a distant Arcadia, Pablo Picasso’s Le peintre et son modèle dans un paysage, painted on 10 May 1963, belongs to his celebrated artist and model series, a subject he began exploring at the start of that year and pursued with increasing intensity for the remainder of his life. From this moment onward, Picasso became deeply absorbed by this thematic, seeking to capture the elusive instant of artistic creation. As the art historian Marie-Laure Bernadac observed, in these works Picasso distilled “the impossible, the secret alchemy that takes place between the real model, the artist’s vision and feeling, and the reality of paint” (Late Picasso, exh. cat., Tate, London, 1988, p. 76).
Over the course of two weeks in February of 1963, Picasso filled the pages of a small carnet with more than two dozen sketches of a studio interior in which a painter is seen working at his easel in the presence of a reclining nude model (Musée national Picasso-Paris, Carnet no. 59). On 2 March, he began the first of an extended series of oil paintings on this theme (Zervos, vol. 23, no. 154; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen). Hélène Parmelin, the wife of the painter Edouard Pignon and a close friend of the artist, recalled the energy surrounding the inception of these works: “Picasso lets loose. He paints ‘The Painter and his Model.’ And from that moment on he paints like a madman, perhaps never before with such frenzy” (Picasso: The Artist and His Model, New York, 1965, p. 10). On 27 March, Picasso himself acknowledged the force of this new inspiration when he declared to Michel Leiris: “Painting is stronger than I am. It makes me do what it wants” (quoted in Pierre Daix, Picasso: Life and Art, New York, 1993, p. 349).
Picasso had initially set his artist and model compositions within an interior. In May, he began to move his protagonists outdoors, enriching these scenes with a host of art historical references. From Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) to Édouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Musée d’Orsay), Picasso imbued his exterior artist and model compositions with a range of visual references to the art of the past. Picasso painted another work on the same day as the present painting, Le peintre et son modèle II, now housed in the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (Zervos, vol. 23, no. 257). The present work is the more resolved and accomplished of the two.
Picasso had initially set his artist and model compositions within an interior. In May, he began to move his protagonists outdoors, enriching these scenes with a host of art historical references. From Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) to Édouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Musée d’Orsay), Picasso imbued his exterior artist and model compositions with a range of visual references to the art of the past. Picasso painted another work on the same day as the present painting, Le peintre et son modèle II, now housed in the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (Zervos, vol. 23, no. 257). The present work is the more resolved and accomplished of the two.
The present work comes from the distinguished collection of Professor Alberto Churba (b. 1932), a pioneering figure in Argentine design whose vision bridged art, craftsmanship, and modern living. Emerging in the late 1950s and coming to prominence throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Churba founded Estudio CH (Centro de Arte y Diseño) in Buenos Aires, helping to shape a distinctly modern design language in Argentina during a period of rapid cultural and industrial transformation. Working across furniture, textiles, carpets, and glass, he brought a refined, contemporary sensibility to local materials and artisanal traditions. His creations, held in institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, reflect a sensitivity to form, material, and function that resonates with the formal clarity and inventive spirit of Picasso’s practice. The presence of this painting within Churba’s collection, which he acquired from Galerie Claude Bernard over four and a half decades ago, underscores his discerning eye and sustained engagement with international modernism, situating the work within a broader dialogue between art and design that defined his career.
Over the course of two weeks in February of 1963, Picasso filled the pages of a small carnet with more than two dozen sketches of a studio interior in which a painter is seen working at his easel in the presence of a reclining nude model (Musée national Picasso-Paris, Carnet no. 59). On 2 March, he began the first of an extended series of oil paintings on this theme (Zervos, vol. 23, no. 154; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen). Hélène Parmelin, the wife of the painter Edouard Pignon and a close friend of the artist, recalled the energy surrounding the inception of these works: “Picasso lets loose. He paints ‘The Painter and his Model.’ And from that moment on he paints like a madman, perhaps never before with such frenzy” (Picasso: The Artist and His Model, New York, 1965, p. 10). On 27 March, Picasso himself acknowledged the force of this new inspiration when he declared to Michel Leiris: “Painting is stronger than I am. It makes me do what it wants” (quoted in Pierre Daix, Picasso: Life and Art, New York, 1993, p. 349).
Picasso had initially set his artist and model compositions within an interior. In May, he began to move his protagonists outdoors, enriching these scenes with a host of art historical references. From Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) to Édouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Musée d’Orsay), Picasso imbued his exterior artist and model compositions with a range of visual references to the art of the past. Picasso painted another work on the same day as the present painting, Le peintre et son modèle II, now housed in the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (Zervos, vol. 23, no. 257). The present work is the more resolved and accomplished of the two.
Picasso had initially set his artist and model compositions within an interior. In May, he began to move his protagonists outdoors, enriching these scenes with a host of art historical references. From Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) to Édouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Musée d’Orsay), Picasso imbued his exterior artist and model compositions with a range of visual references to the art of the past. Picasso painted another work on the same day as the present painting, Le peintre et son modèle II, now housed in the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (Zervos, vol. 23, no. 257). The present work is the more resolved and accomplished of the two.
The present work comes from the distinguished collection of Professor Alberto Churba (b. 1932), a pioneering figure in Argentine design whose vision bridged art, craftsmanship, and modern living. Emerging in the late 1950s and coming to prominence throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Churba founded Estudio CH (Centro de Arte y Diseño) in Buenos Aires, helping to shape a distinctly modern design language in Argentina during a period of rapid cultural and industrial transformation. Working across furniture, textiles, carpets, and glass, he brought a refined, contemporary sensibility to local materials and artisanal traditions. His creations, held in institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, reflect a sensitivity to form, material, and function that resonates with the formal clarity and inventive spirit of Picasso’s practice. The presence of this painting within Churba’s collection, which he acquired from Galerie Claude Bernard over four and a half decades ago, underscores his discerning eye and sustained engagement with international modernism, situating the work within a broader dialogue between art and design that defined his career.