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拍品專文
The Comité Picabia has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
In the winter of 1924-1925, Picabia began an inventive series of works known as the “Monster” paintings. These radical compositions depicted deliberately distorted popular or traditional subjects. Painted to shock and appeal to the tastes of the avant-garde, the main thematic trends in these works were lovers, landscapes, and women, influenced either by the society people Picabia met or themes treated by the Old Masters. Executed in the commonplace brand of household enamel paint known as Ripolin, rendered in rich, gaudy color and reveling in a loose, free-flowing and open style, these radically new paintings were intended as both a mockery of the pretensions of high art and as a satirical dig at the monstrosity of Riviera “high life” and the “flappers” who chose to party through the winter there.
In Couple, the shiny, bright quality of the Ripolin paint and the unexpected color combinations create a disquieting effect, underscored by the figures’ deliberately distorted faces. Through the seriality of his line, Picabia creates mask-like faces, with pointed noses and large eyes which are multiplied on the figures’ faces. This replication and superimposition of images would become a central feature of Picabia’s transparences in subsequent years.
In 1925 Picabia moved to Mougins in the South of France with Germaine Everling, where they started work on building their new home, the Château de Mai. The new house became a focus for artists visiting the South of France and Picabia and Germaine played host to Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Paul Eluard, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, Constantin Brancusi, René Clair and Marcel Duchamp. Living in his château and playing on his yacht, Picabia entertained during these years through an endless series of parties and intellectual gatherings. The first owner of the present work, Simone Collinet (née Kahn) was the first wife of André Breton. In 1959, the Italian artist Enrico Baj acquired Couple from Collinet, and inscribed the back of the board, stating that the painter Wilfredo Lam, having seen the work in 1959, recognized a portrait of Duchamp in the male figure.
In the winter of 1924-1925, Picabia began an inventive series of works known as the “Monster” paintings. These radical compositions depicted deliberately distorted popular or traditional subjects. Painted to shock and appeal to the tastes of the avant-garde, the main thematic trends in these works were lovers, landscapes, and women, influenced either by the society people Picabia met or themes treated by the Old Masters. Executed in the commonplace brand of household enamel paint known as Ripolin, rendered in rich, gaudy color and reveling in a loose, free-flowing and open style, these radically new paintings were intended as both a mockery of the pretensions of high art and as a satirical dig at the monstrosity of Riviera “high life” and the “flappers” who chose to party through the winter there.
In Couple, the shiny, bright quality of the Ripolin paint and the unexpected color combinations create a disquieting effect, underscored by the figures’ deliberately distorted faces. Through the seriality of his line, Picabia creates mask-like faces, with pointed noses and large eyes which are multiplied on the figures’ faces. This replication and superimposition of images would become a central feature of Picabia’s transparences in subsequent years.
In 1925 Picabia moved to Mougins in the South of France with Germaine Everling, where they started work on building their new home, the Château de Mai. The new house became a focus for artists visiting the South of France and Picabia and Germaine played host to Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Paul Eluard, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, Constantin Brancusi, René Clair and Marcel Duchamp. Living in his château and playing on his yacht, Picabia entertained during these years through an endless series of parties and intellectual gatherings. The first owner of the present work, Simone Collinet (née Kahn) was the first wife of André Breton. In 1959, the Italian artist Enrico Baj acquired Couple from Collinet, and inscribed the back of the board, stating that the painter Wilfredo Lam, having seen the work in 1959, recognized a portrait of Duchamp in the male figure.