PABLO PICASSO | Pomme et verre

Étienne Bignou & Alex. Reid & Lefevre, London (acquired by 1931)
The Valentine Gallery, New York
Walter P. Chrysler Jr, New York & Warrenton (possibly acquired from the above in 1936, his sale: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 22nd March 1945, lot 62)
Galleria Gissi, Turin (acquired by 1970)
Mario Perona, Turin
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1975

London, Alex Reid & Lefevre Ltd., Thirty Years of Pablo Picasso, 1931, no. 24 (titled Verre et Pomme)
Chicago, The Arts Club of Chicago, Exhibition of the Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Collection, 1937, no. 25
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Selected Exhibition of the Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Collection, 1937, no. 4
Turin, Galleria Gissi, Maestri Stranieri, 1970, no. 4919
Turin, Galleria Gissi, Picasso. Chagall. De Chirico, 1972, no. 3, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Turin, Fondazione Palazzo Bricherasio, Fernand Léger. L’oggetto e il suo contesto 1920-1940, 1996, no. 54, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Œuvres de 1923 à 1925, Paris, 1952, vol. V, no. 76, illustrated p. 41
Natalia Bravo Ruiz, Bárbaros e italianos. Picasso en el pensamiento critic de Sebastia Gash y Eugenie d'Ors, Málaga, 1996, no. 27

Please note that a professional condition report is available for this lot. Please contact the department to request this.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Pomme et verre painted in 1923 is an exquisite example of the still life genre that Picasso painted in the early 1920s, at a time when the artist was revising his pre-War Cubist experiments. As Christian Zervos writes, ‘Picasso’s work between the years 1923 and 1925…oscillates between two parallel, but inverse, directions, so one reflects upon the past, whilst the other looks towards a future laden with promise’ (C. Zervos, op. cit., p. IX, translated from French). The three-dimensionality of objects is highlighted through the way each element in the composition is treated and the present work is particularly striking for its choice and use of media: oil and sand. The combination of both mediums and the way they are used creates a vibrating surface, the texture of the sand contrasted to the sinuous finish of oil. Picasso challenges the traditional notion of foreground and background, appearance and reality. A wooden texture is evoked through the sweeping brown element which Picasso uses as a repoussoir to the composition.  The whiter background and the irregular sand square that indicate the table project the apple and glass forward to the viewer so that they seem to float in an undefined space. These carefully orchestrated elements in the composition are presented to us in an abstract environment, removed from their traditional context and as though set upon a stage. The rich opacity of the sand-blended pigment is extremely tactile and recalls the hyper-realism of the collage elements in Picasso's earlier Cubist work and papier-collé. Trying to attain different surfaces and challenging the viewer to perceive dissimilar textures and mediums is prevalent in the works of these still life series. As the present work attests and John Richardson has observed, 'the still life was the genre which Picasso would eventually explore more exhaustively and develop more imaginatively than any other artist in history’ (John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, New York, 1991, vol. ll, p. 441). Steep in art-historical tradition of genre painting, Picasso repeatedly returned to still life as a theme and continued to develop the subject throughout his artistic career continuing to examine a new, modern approach, to this genre. The 1920s marked a significant new development in Picasso’s still lifes and in the words of Marie-Laure Bernadac: ‘In 1924-1926, Picasso developed the complex syntax of curvilinear Cubism in a series of luxuriant and colourful still lifes’ (quoted in Jean Sutherland Boggs, Picasso & Things, Cleveland, 1992, p. 22) further continuing the legacy of still life. Although he rarely spoke about his paintings, Picasso commented on the liberties he took with his still lifes: ‘It is a misfortune - and probably my delight - to use things as my passions tell me... How awful for a painter who loathes apples to have to use them all the time because they go so well with the cloth! I put all the things I like into my pictures. Things, so much the worse for them; they just have to put up with it’ (quoted in Christian Zervos, 'Conversations avec Picasso' in Cahiers d'Art, Paris, 1935, pp. 173-74).

The present work was exhibited in the significant exhibition organised in London in 1931 by Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd. titled Thirty Years of Pablo Picasso which showcased Picasso’s extraordinary artistic production until the 1930s, this included Nu debout au bord de la mer from 1929 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This work has never before appeared on the market and has since been in the same private collection when the present owner acquired Pomme et verre circa 1975.