Francis Picabia

Galerie Bailly, Paris (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 12, 1994, lot 302)
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galerie 1900/2000, Arc en Ciel: Francis Picabia, 1987, no. 32, illustrated in the catalogue (dated 1935-38)
Paris, Musée national du Grand Palais, Francis Picabia, 1976, no. 207

Maria Lluïsa Borràs, Picabia, New York, 1985, no. 674, illustrated p. 410 

Work is in overall good condition. The board is sound. The pigments are bright and fresh. There is some minor frame abrasion along the extreme perimeter. Under UV light: some intermittent strokes of in-painting along right edge & right side of lower edge as well as scattered fine lines of retouching to surface scratches: below signature, to left of the nose, the top of the eye and in the upper right corner.
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 present work belongs to Picabia's so-called transparences, a series of uniquely multi-layered paintings from the 1920s and 1930s. It was during these years, following his experimentation with Dada and abstraction, that Picabia turned away from the aesthetic of shock and looked instead to a kind of renaissance, drawing inspiration from Romanesque frescoes, Renaissance painting and Catalan art. His selected imagery would often relate to religion or mythology.

As William Camfield writes, "Picabia's interest in the concept and techniques of transparency was not a sudden development. Ultimately it derived from preoccupations with simultaneity during the epoch of Cubism and Orphism... While the style and spirit of the transparencies are readily perceived, the motivations behind them are dimly understood. Many of Picabia's visual sources in past art were also quiet and wistful in mood, but he selected these models so that, finally, he was not responding simply to them but to larger forces within his art and life and the art and life about him. No answers are at hand, but a few observations may be offered, beginning with the fact that the transparencies evolved during a period of personal turmoil. As usual, the source of the trouble was Picabia's bittersweet love affairs" (William Camfield, Francis Picabia: His Art, Life and Times, Princeton, 1979, p. 229).