拍品专文
Picabia spent the summer of 1927 in Barcelona and he was impressed by the art of Catalan Romanesque fresco paintings which contributed substantially to the genesis of the 'Transparences' pictures of which Catax is an outstanding example.
Picabia described the 'Transparences' as "space where he might express for himself 'the resemblance of my interior desires', as paintings 'where all my instincts may have a free course'. But in so far as is known, he shared not one word of more specific explanation about his intentions, visual sources or titles with anyone, not even close friends and family. Accordingly, never was he more successful in painting for himself than in these works - transparent perhaps in form but veiled in content." (W. A. Camfield, Francis Picabia, His Art, Life and Times, Princeton, New Jersey, 1979, pp. 233-234).
Some of the titles were based on the protagonists of Greek and Roman mythology while some referred to historical sites and figures or, to some names of birds, plants and insects. Picabia's imagery which was assembled in a personal manner, was derived from the identifiable past art.
"Catax is representative of numerous transparencies in 1929 which are evocative of Botticelli - for example, his 'Birth of Venus' - in both the pensive mood of some of the faces and in the expressive use of hands and cascading flowers. The sensation of a gentle reverie is further enhanced by thin washes of cool blues, greens and creamy flesh tones which harmonise delicately with the fine-grained plywood surface." Compared with the earlier paintings, "The 'transparencies' signal a period of calmer work for Picabia, with their reflection upon time, on the fourth dimension and a change of state suggested by their subaqueous atmosphere Picabia's contours evoking the profiles of a Piero or a Botticelli are not simply appropriation but poignant palimpsests concerned with art's ability to transcend, to shine through time..." (Exhibition Catalogue, Picabia 1875-1953, Edinburgh, 1988, p. 31).
When the Transparences pictures were first shown at the Galerie Théophile Briant in Paris in 1929, Léonce Rosenberg was so impressed by these pictures that he commissioned a group of paintings for his wife's room. "The film critic, Gaston Ravel, was mightily impressed by the quality of the paintings and their relationship to the cinema: 'The multiple films...are here...immobilised by a magic brush...At first glance, some confusion perhaps; but little by little, everything comes clear, slowly...It is a miracle! it is an enchantment...an homage, involuntary perhaps, rendered to the cinema." (Camfield, op. cit., p. 233).
Picabia described the 'Transparences' as "space where he might express for himself 'the resemblance of my interior desires', as paintings 'where all my instincts may have a free course'. But in so far as is known, he shared not one word of more specific explanation about his intentions, visual sources or titles with anyone, not even close friends and family. Accordingly, never was he more successful in painting for himself than in these works - transparent perhaps in form but veiled in content." (W. A. Camfield, Francis Picabia, His Art, Life and Times, Princeton, New Jersey, 1979, pp. 233-234).
Some of the titles were based on the protagonists of Greek and Roman mythology while some referred to historical sites and figures or, to some names of birds, plants and insects. Picabia's imagery which was assembled in a personal manner, was derived from the identifiable past art.
"Catax is representative of numerous transparencies in 1929 which are evocative of Botticelli - for example, his 'Birth of Venus' - in both the pensive mood of some of the faces and in the expressive use of hands and cascading flowers. The sensation of a gentle reverie is further enhanced by thin washes of cool blues, greens and creamy flesh tones which harmonise delicately with the fine-grained plywood surface." Compared with the earlier paintings, "The 'transparencies' signal a period of calmer work for Picabia, with their reflection upon time, on the fourth dimension and a change of state suggested by their subaqueous atmosphere Picabia's contours evoking the profiles of a Piero or a Botticelli are not simply appropriation but poignant palimpsests concerned with art's ability to transcend, to shine through time..." (Exhibition Catalogue, Picabia 1875-1953, Edinburgh, 1988, p. 31).
When the Transparences pictures were first shown at the Galerie Théophile Briant in Paris in 1929, Léonce Rosenberg was so impressed by these pictures that he commissioned a group of paintings for his wife's room. "The film critic, Gaston Ravel, was mightily impressed by the quality of the paintings and their relationship to the cinema: 'The multiple films...are here...immobilised by a magic brush...At first glance, some confusion perhaps; but little by little, everything comes clear, slowly...It is a miracle! it is an enchantment...an homage, involuntary perhaps, rendered to the cinema." (Camfield, op. cit., p. 233).