Pablo Picasso

Leo Stein, Paris
J. B. Neumann, New York
Aldolphe & Sam Lewisohn, New York (and sold: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 16, 1939, lot 214)
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York
Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London
Philippe Altenloh, Brussels
Sale: Sotheby's London, April 1, 1981, lot 171
Stanley J. Seeger, New York (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 4, 1993, lot 412)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Richmond, Virginia, Museum of Fine Arts; Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1941, no. 205

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso,  supplément aux volumes I à V, vol. XXII, Paris, 1954, no. 266, illustrated p. 99
William Lieberman, Picasso, Blue and Rose Periods, New York, 1961, pl. 2
Pierre Daix & Georges Boudaille, Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods, Greenwich, 1966, no. XIV.14, illustrated p. 288
Alberto Moravia & Paolo Lecaldano, L'Opera completa di Picasso ble e rosa, Milan, 1968, no. 239D, illustrated p. 106
Josep Palau i Fabre, Picasso, The Early Years, 1881-1907, Barcelona, 1985, no. 1193, illustrated p. 434

Work is in very good condition. Executed on grayish blue wove paper with beautiful blue fibers visible. Hinged to mount at upper corners on verso. Very faint mat stain along left edge, about 1/2 inch wide. Sheet is slightly darkened at right edge. Tiny smudge of surface dirt to lower right of central boy's feet, otherwise fine. A few minor studio stains on verso.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The suicide of Carles Casagemas in 1901 was the catalyst for Picasso's subject matter that grew dark and introspective.  Perceiving himself an outcast, the young artist's fascination and empathy with marginalized members of society resulted in his depicting beggars, prostitutes and other constituents of the lower class.  The resulting works are referred to as his so-called Blue Period.  After Picasso returned to Paris after a brief stay in Barcelona (1903-1904), he installed himself and his studio in Montmartre at the bohemian Bateaux-Lavoir.  Picasso's palette transformed slowly from blue to rose, due in large part to his increased sales coupled with his nascent romance with Fernande Olivier. 

Picasso frequented the Cirque Medrano where he not only enjoyed the spectacles that took place in the ring, but also befriended some of the performers who posed for several of his major compositions.  It was not only circus members who caught his eye, but cabaret dancers and other thespians also appeared in his paintings.  As early as 1904, Picasso identified himself with actors and went as far to depict himself as a harlequin in his daring self-portrait At the Lapin Agile (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002). 

Executed in Paris in the late spring-early summer of 1906, L'Abrevoir (Chevaux Au bain) is one of a few number of surviving studies for a large, mural-sized project of the same title.  Classically-derived in style, the present composition of nude boys and horses in a landscape shows a pronounced shift in the mood of Picasso's work from the poignant introspection of his work executed earlier in Barcelona.  In two of the earliest related studies, Girl on Horseback and Boy (Zervos I, 269) and Boy and Horse (Zervos I, 270), the figure of the standing youth is dressed in circus costume; however, in all of the remaining studies the nudity of the boys establishes a less specific, more heroic environment.  In the first of the watercolors for the entire composition, the group of figures and horses is situated in the middle distance, however, in the present drawing and in the definitive gouache study (Zervos, I, 265; The Metropolitan Museum of Art) Picasso has foreshortened horse and rider (Fig 1). 

It has been suggested that Gauguin's Riders on the Beach, first exhibited by Ambroise Vollard in 1903, may have influenced Picasso during the development of the present composition.  In any event, the monumental L'Abrevoir (Chevaux Au bain) was never realized, but the ambitious scale of the work is suggested by Picasso's related masterpiece of that period Boy Leading a Horse, 1905-06, from the William S. Paley Collection now in The Museum of Modern Art, New York (Fig. 2).