Pablo Picasso

Private Collection, Geneva (acquired by 1990)
Erika Meyerovich Fine Art, San Francisco
Acquired from the above 

Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, Picasso, 2005

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Oeuvres de 1969, vol. XXXI, Paris, 1976, no. 495, illustrated pl. 153
The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculptures, The Sixties III, 1968-1969, San Francisco, 2010, no. 69-499, illustrated p. 268 

Executed on cream colored wove paper laid down on card. Edges are deckled. The present work was originally the verso of Nu assis et tête (Z XXXI, 456); the sheet was split at some point after 1990. Likely as a result of this splitting the sheet is discolored in some areas. There are two vertical repaired tears running through the female figure's chest. The medium is a bit faded. This work is in fair condition.
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.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, the subject of a painter and his model accounted for a large part of Pablo Picasso’s creative output. While a stock character which recurs in a variety of guises throughout his oeuvre, the harlequin makes a lively re-emergence during this period, as the present lot demonstrates, with none of the melancholy of his youthful incarnations. The thinly disguised autobiographical figure contemplates his nude muse as part of a series of works such as Peintre et modèle which reflects Picasso's preoccupation with how to conceive of his role as an artist. The female figure's open pose provides a strong sense of depth despite the flat use of line, the detailed and bold forms of which are immediately recognizable as characteristic of Picasso's idiosyncratic late style. The present work provides an arresting insight into that style in its purest, graphic form through a subject that was of prime and continued importance to the artist throughout his life.