Francis Picabia

Simone Collinet, Paris
Enrico Baj, Milan (acquired from the above in February 1958)
Private Collection, Switzerland (sale: Christie's, London, 29th November 1995, lot 167)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Leverkusen, Städtisches Museum Schloss Morsbroich & Eindhoven, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Francis Picabia, 1967, no. 44, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Francis Picabia, 1976, no. 166, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Couple au profil de Marcel Duchamp)

Michel Sanouillet, Picabia, Paris, 1964, illustrated p. 116 (titled Couple, profil de Marcel Duchamp)
Francis Picabia (exhibition catalogue), Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; Galerie Springer, Berlin; Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg & Fred Jahn, Munich, 1980, fig. i, illustrated p. 19 (titled Couple au profil de Marcel Duchamp)
Maria Lluïsa Boràs, Picabia, London, 1985, fig. 606, cat. 417, illustrated p. 320

The board is stable, very slightly warped. There is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. This work is in very good original condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate, although slightly brighter in the original.
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Couple belongs to a series of works Picabia executed between 1924 and 1927 known as the 'Monster' paintings. These compositions treat traditional subject matter, either images inspired by Old Master paintings, or conventional themes such as female figures or couples, often based on society people the artist came in contact with. As William Camfield explained: 'upon moving to the Midi in 1925, Picabia exchanged the polemics and projects of his life in Paris for an idyllic life devoted to painting, puttering around a sprawling château of his design, and playing at the beach, night clubs and casinos of Cannes. In spontaneous celebration of this life, he turned to the theme of amorous couples painting dozens of them from 1924-28 in many varieties of the "monster" style' (W. Camfield, Francis Picabia (exhibition catalogue), New York, 1970, p. 131). The present work belonged to Simone Collinet (née Kahn), the first wife of André Breton. Simone and Breton met in the Jardin du Luxembourg in 1920 and married the following year, and their Paris apartment became a meeting point for the Surrealist group. In 1959, the Italian artist Enrico Baj bought the work from Collinet, and inscribed the back of the board, stating that the painter Wifredo Lam, having seen the work in 1959, recognised in the male figure a portrait of Marcel Duchamp (fig. 1).

 

During this time Picabia often used ripolin, a household paint characterised by a shiny, brilliant quality, and rendered his subjects in unexpected colour combinations. Furthermore, he deliberately distorted the figures' forms to a disquieting effect. Features become mask-like, with pointed noses and an emphasis on large almond-shaped eyes frequently multiplied on the face. This replication of eyes and the superimposition of images were to become central features of Picabia's Transparences of the period that followed. In the present work, the two figures are rendered in bold colours applied with strong zig-zag and undulating lines, imbuing the composition with a great sense of energy.

Fig. 1, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia and Béatrice Wood, New York, 1917