- 39
Pablo Picasso
Estimate
600,000 - 800,000 USD
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Description
- Pablo Picasso
- La Femme au Tambourin
- Aquatint with grattoir, 1939, Baer’s fifth (final) state, signed in pencil, numbered 8/30, published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, in 1943, on Arches wove paper, framed
- Plate: 26 1/4 by 20 1/4 in. 66.6 by 51.3 cm
- Sheet: 30 1/8 by 22 1/2 in. 76.5 by 57 cm
Provenance
Private Collection, Sweden
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Literature
Georges Bloch, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographié, 1904-1967, Bern, 1968, no. 310, illustrated p. 92
Brigitte Baer, Picasso Peintre-graveur, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre grave et des monotypes, 1935-1945, vol. III, Bern, 1985, no. 646, illustrated pp. 156-161
Deborah Wye, A Picasso Portfolio: Prints from The Museum of Modern Art (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2010, illustration of another work from the edition p. 130
Catalogue Note
Picasso conceived this striking portrait of Dora Maar when Europe was on the brink of war in 1939. With images of the Spanish Civil war still fresh in his memory, the subject of a nation at peril seemed too overwhelming for him to face yet again. Instead, he turned his attention to his immediate environment, featuring still-lifes constructed from the contents of his studio and many portraits of his lover, Dora Maar. Maar had been a constant companion in his studio during these years, acting as a documentary photographer throughout his production of Guernica in 1937. By 1939, Picasso's portrayal of her spanned all artistic mediums from painting and drawing, to print making. These renderings reflected the trials and tribulations they had experienced together, and Maar's image came to represent the ominous mood of the era.
Dora Maar's relationship with Picasso is one of the most tumultuous love stories in the history of 20th century art. Picasso met Maar, the Surrealist photographer, in the autumn of 1935 and became enchanted by the young woman’s powerful sense of self and commanding presence. In the eight years that followed, Maar was Picasso’s principal model and the subject of some of his most iconic portraits. For nearly a decade their partnership was one of intellectual exchange and intense passion, and Maar’s influence on Picasso over these years resulted in some of his most daring portraits of his near-century long career.
Picasso's war-time depictions of Dora Maar are among the most famous of his oeuvre and have come to symbolize the collective emotions of that era. As one of Picasso’s greatest graphic images, La Femme au Tambourin not only provides us with a glimpse into the personal life of the artist, but also captures the tone of a vital time in world history. Shockingly abstract yet undeniably alluring, these pictures have a certain tragic beauty and power of presence that few other portraits in Picasso's vast repertoire were able to achieve.
Dora Maar's relationship with Picasso is one of the most tumultuous love stories in the history of 20th century art. Picasso met Maar, the Surrealist photographer, in the autumn of 1935 and became enchanted by the young woman’s powerful sense of self and commanding presence. In the eight years that followed, Maar was Picasso’s principal model and the subject of some of his most iconic portraits. For nearly a decade their partnership was one of intellectual exchange and intense passion, and Maar’s influence on Picasso over these years resulted in some of his most daring portraits of his near-century long career.
Picasso's war-time depictions of Dora Maar are among the most famous of his oeuvre and have come to symbolize the collective emotions of that era. As one of Picasso’s greatest graphic images, La Femme au Tambourin not only provides us with a glimpse into the personal life of the artist, but also captures the tone of a vital time in world history. Shockingly abstract yet undeniably alluring, these pictures have a certain tragic beauty and power of presence that few other portraits in Picasso's vast repertoire were able to achieve.