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Lot Essay
EXECUTED IN FONTAINEBLEAU IN APRIL 1921, DEUX FEMMES NUES ASSISES IS A FULLY WORKED PASTEL STUDY FOR THE FAMOUS OIL PAINTING OF THE SAME NAME IN THE KUNSTSAMMLUNG NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN, DSSELDORF. IT COMES FROM A SERIES OF PASTELS FROM THE PERIOD THAT ARE THOUGHT TO BE BASED ON PICASSO'S WIFE OLGA WHO AT THIS TIME HAD RECENTLY GIVEN BIRTH TO THEIR FIRST CHILD, PAULO. THESE PASTELS ARE ALSO PREPARATORY WORKINGS ON THE THEME THAT WOULD BE FINALLY REALISED IN THE PAINTING TROIS FEMMES à LA FONTAINE OF 1921 IN THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK.
CAREFULLY COMPOSED AND STRONGLY MODELLED, DEUX FEMMES NUES ASSISES EPITOMISES THE CLASSICAL STYLE THAT DOMINATED MUCH OF PICASSO'S ART THROUGHOUT THE EARLY 1920S. THIS TENDENCY TO CLASSICISM HAS BEEN SEEN AS PART OF A "RETURN TO ORDER" PREVALENT IN EUROPE AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR. THOUGH PICASSO'S HEAVY USE OF CLASSICISM IN THE 1920S HAS BEEN SEEN AS A REVOLUTIONARY SHIFT IN STYLE, NEVERTHELESS A CERTAIN CLASSICISM HAD ALWAYS PERVADED HIS ART EVER SINCE HIS EARLY "ROSE" PERIOD. THE INGRES-ESQUE LINES, POUSSIN-ESQUE MODELLING AND CLASSICAL MEDITERRANEAN SOURCES THAT HAVE BEEN MERGED INTO THE ELEGANT STYLE OF DEUX FEMMES NUES ASSISES WERE FOR PICASSO SOURCES NO DIFFERENT FROM HIS BORROWINGS FROM AFRICAN AND IBERIAN ART IN THE FIRST YEARS OF THE CENTURY. ALTHOUGH HE ONCE CONFESSED, AT BRAQUE'S PROMPTING, THAT HE HAD ALWAYS LOVED CLASSICAL BEAUTY, FOR PICASSO THE ART OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS, ROMANS AND EGYPTIANS WAS AS MUCH "ALIVE" AND SIGNIFICANT, HE MAINTAINED, AS ANY OTHER STYLE.
CAREFULLY COMPOSED AND STRONGLY MODELLED, DEUX FEMMES NUES ASSISES EPITOMISES THE CLASSICAL STYLE THAT DOMINATED MUCH OF PICASSO'S ART THROUGHOUT THE EARLY 1920S. THIS TENDENCY TO CLASSICISM HAS BEEN SEEN AS PART OF A "RETURN TO ORDER" PREVALENT IN EUROPE AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR. THOUGH PICASSO'S HEAVY USE OF CLASSICISM IN THE 1920S HAS BEEN SEEN AS A REVOLUTIONARY SHIFT IN STYLE, NEVERTHELESS A CERTAIN CLASSICISM HAD ALWAYS PERVADED HIS ART EVER SINCE HIS EARLY "ROSE" PERIOD. THE INGRES-ESQUE LINES, POUSSIN-ESQUE MODELLING AND CLASSICAL MEDITERRANEAN SOURCES THAT HAVE BEEN MERGED INTO THE ELEGANT STYLE OF DEUX FEMMES NUES ASSISES WERE FOR PICASSO SOURCES NO DIFFERENT FROM HIS BORROWINGS FROM AFRICAN AND IBERIAN ART IN THE FIRST YEARS OF THE CENTURY. ALTHOUGH HE ONCE CONFESSED, AT BRAQUE'S PROMPTING, THAT HE HAD ALWAYS LOVED CLASSICAL BEAUTY, FOR PICASSO THE ART OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS, ROMANS AND EGYPTIANS WAS AS MUCH "ALIVE" AND SIGNIFICANT, HE MAINTAINED, AS ANY OTHER STYLE.