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Lot Essay
JUST AS IN HIS YOUTH, WHEN HE AND GEORGES BRAQUE HAD DEVISED CUBISM AS A WAY OF RENDERING REALITY MORE TANGIBLY THAN EVER BEFORE, SO IN HIS OLD AGE, DID PICASSO STRIVE TO CREATE A PAINTING OF A WOMAN THAT WOULD BE AS REAL AS THE WOMAN HERSELF - SO REAL THAT IT WOULD CONTAIN EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO THE WOMAN AND YET WOULD RESEMBLE NOTHING IN OUR EXPERIENCE. IT WAS TO BE SO REAL THAT PEOPLE SEEING HER WOULD COME UP TO THE PAINTING AND SAY 'BONJOUR, MADAME'. PICASSO DESCRIBED HOW HE HAD ONCE SHOWN HIS GREAT FEMME ASSISE DANS UN FAUTEUIL OF 1913 (VICTOR AND SALLY GANZ COLLECTION, NEW YORK, SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S ON 10 NOVEMBER 1997) TO BRAQUE: 'IS THIS WOMAN REAL?' PICASSO HAD ASKED. 'COULD SHE GO OUT IN THE STREET? IS SHE A WOMAN OR A PICTURE?', PICASSO TAUNTED BRAQUE. 'DO HER ARMPITS SMELL?' (CITED IN: J. RICHARDSON, 'L'EPOQUE JACQUELINE', LATE PICASSO, TATE GALLERY, LONDON 1988, P. 41).
THIS NOTION OF PHYSICALITY, SPONTANEITY AND OVERT EROTICISM IN PICASSO'S LATE WORK MET WITH CRITICISM FROM HIS CONTEMPORARIES, AND THE ACCUSATIONS VOICED AGAINST HIM - SHAMELESSNESS AND VULGARITY BEING CHIEF AMONG THEM - IRONICALLY ECHO THOSE MADE AGAINST MANET IN THE FACE OF THE DéJEUNER SUR L'HERBE OR OLYMPIA ALMOST EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE. THIS SHARED SENSE OF REJECTION AT THE HANDS OF AN UNCOMPREHENDING PUBLIC GOES A LONG WAY TOWARDS EXPLAINING PICASSO'S CONTINUING IDENTIFICATION WITH MANET, ARGUEABLY THE FOUNDING FATHER OF MODERNISM.
IT WAS THE BLANTANT NAKEDNESS OF MANET'S OLYMPIA AS OPPOSED TO THE CONVENTIONAL ARTISTIC NUDITY THAT SHOCKED THE CRITICS OF FRANCE'S SECOND EMPIRE. HOWEVER, THIS WAS PRECISELY THE REASON PICASSO SO ADMIRED MANET'S WORK. HE SET OUT TO PAINT NUDES FAR MORE SHOCKING, FAR MORE THREATENING THAN MANET'S.
PICASSO'S SERIES OF NUDES FROM 1964 ENGAGE WITH A TRADITION OF DEPICTING THE RECLINING FEMALE FORM THAT REACHES BACK TO TITIAN'S VENUS OF URBINO (GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI, FLORENCE) AND GOYA'S NAKED MAJA (MUSEO DEL PRADO, MADRID) AS WELL AS MANET'S OLYMPIA. THE SOFT AND GENTLE REPRESENTATION OF TITIAN AND GOYA'S VERSIONS IS RADICALLY SUBVERTED BY THE MASSIVE VOLUMINOSITY OF PICASSO'S NUDE, THE BODY TWISTED AT IMPOSSIBLE ANGLES SO AS TO OFFER THE ENTIRETY OF THE BODY PARTS TO VIEW: BOTH LEGS, BOTH LARGE FEET, BOTH BUTTOCKS, BOTH BREASTS. PICASSO REMAINS FAITHFUL TO THE PRINCIPLE OF SIMULTANEITY WHICH WAS PIONEERED BY CUBISM AND THE DESIRE TO GRASP REALITY FROM ALL ANGLES AT ONCE.
AS IN MANET'S MASTERPIECE, THE BLACK CAT STANDS AT THE FEET OF THE RECLINING NUDE, THE ATTRIBUTE OF WITCHES AND LADEN WITH OBVIOUS SEXUAL SUGGESTION. HERE THE BLACK CAT IS NOT JUST AN EROTIC AUXILIARY, HOWEVER, IT REPRESENTS A REAL CAT THAT PICASSO AND JACQUELINE, PICASSO'S LAST LOVE OF HIS LIFE, HAD TAKEN IN AT MOUGINS.
UNLIKE MATISSE AND MANY OTHER TWENTIETH-CENTURY PAINTERS, PICASSO USES AS A MODEL HERE THE WOMAN HE LOVES, NECESSITATING THE EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT FOR CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY. NONETHELESS, PICASSO DID NOT PAINT FROM LIFE. JACQUELINE NEVER POSED FOR HIM, YET HER ESSENCE IS EVERYWHERE. ALL THE WOMEN OF THESE YEARS ARE JACQUELINE, AND YET THEY ARE RARELY PORTRAITS. THE IMAGE OF THE WOMAN HE LOVES IS A MODEL IMPRINTED DEEP WITHIN HIM.
THIS NOTION OF PHYSICALITY, SPONTANEITY AND OVERT EROTICISM IN PICASSO'S LATE WORK MET WITH CRITICISM FROM HIS CONTEMPORARIES, AND THE ACCUSATIONS VOICED AGAINST HIM - SHAMELESSNESS AND VULGARITY BEING CHIEF AMONG THEM - IRONICALLY ECHO THOSE MADE AGAINST MANET IN THE FACE OF THE DéJEUNER SUR L'HERBE OR OLYMPIA ALMOST EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE. THIS SHARED SENSE OF REJECTION AT THE HANDS OF AN UNCOMPREHENDING PUBLIC GOES A LONG WAY TOWARDS EXPLAINING PICASSO'S CONTINUING IDENTIFICATION WITH MANET, ARGUEABLY THE FOUNDING FATHER OF MODERNISM.
IT WAS THE BLANTANT NAKEDNESS OF MANET'S OLYMPIA AS OPPOSED TO THE CONVENTIONAL ARTISTIC NUDITY THAT SHOCKED THE CRITICS OF FRANCE'S SECOND EMPIRE. HOWEVER, THIS WAS PRECISELY THE REASON PICASSO SO ADMIRED MANET'S WORK. HE SET OUT TO PAINT NUDES FAR MORE SHOCKING, FAR MORE THREATENING THAN MANET'S.
PICASSO'S SERIES OF NUDES FROM 1964 ENGAGE WITH A TRADITION OF DEPICTING THE RECLINING FEMALE FORM THAT REACHES BACK TO TITIAN'S VENUS OF URBINO (GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI, FLORENCE) AND GOYA'S NAKED MAJA (MUSEO DEL PRADO, MADRID) AS WELL AS MANET'S OLYMPIA. THE SOFT AND GENTLE REPRESENTATION OF TITIAN AND GOYA'S VERSIONS IS RADICALLY SUBVERTED BY THE MASSIVE VOLUMINOSITY OF PICASSO'S NUDE, THE BODY TWISTED AT IMPOSSIBLE ANGLES SO AS TO OFFER THE ENTIRETY OF THE BODY PARTS TO VIEW: BOTH LEGS, BOTH LARGE FEET, BOTH BUTTOCKS, BOTH BREASTS. PICASSO REMAINS FAITHFUL TO THE PRINCIPLE OF SIMULTANEITY WHICH WAS PIONEERED BY CUBISM AND THE DESIRE TO GRASP REALITY FROM ALL ANGLES AT ONCE.
AS IN MANET'S MASTERPIECE, THE BLACK CAT STANDS AT THE FEET OF THE RECLINING NUDE, THE ATTRIBUTE OF WITCHES AND LADEN WITH OBVIOUS SEXUAL SUGGESTION. HERE THE BLACK CAT IS NOT JUST AN EROTIC AUXILIARY, HOWEVER, IT REPRESENTS A REAL CAT THAT PICASSO AND JACQUELINE, PICASSO'S LAST LOVE OF HIS LIFE, HAD TAKEN IN AT MOUGINS.
UNLIKE MATISSE AND MANY OTHER TWENTIETH-CENTURY PAINTERS, PICASSO USES AS A MODEL HERE THE WOMAN HE LOVES, NECESSITATING THE EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT FOR CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY. NONETHELESS, PICASSO DID NOT PAINT FROM LIFE. JACQUELINE NEVER POSED FOR HIM, YET HER ESSENCE IS EVERYWHERE. ALL THE WOMEN OF THESE YEARS ARE JACQUELINE, AND YET THEY ARE RARELY PORTRAITS. THE IMAGE OF THE WOMAN HE LOVES IS A MODEL IMPRINTED DEEP WITHIN HIM.