PABLO PICASSO | Fumeur assis à une table

Dr. Ingebort Eichmann, Zurich
Dr. H. Kesser, Basel (a gift from the above circa 1936)
Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne (acquired from the above in 1949, stock no. 2226)
Private Collection
Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich
Acquired from the above in 1988

Bergamo, Palazzo della ragione, Mostra Internazionale del Disegno Moderno, 1950, no. 61
Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Zeichnungen und Collagen des Kubismus, 1979, n.n., illustrated pl. 122
New York, The Museum of Modern Art & Basel, Kunstmuseum, Picasso and Braque, Pioneering Cubism, 1989-90, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Supplément aux volumes 1 à 5, vol. VI, Paris, 1954, no. 1243, illustrated pl. 149
Frank Elgar, Picasso, Paris, 1955, mentioned p. 89
Maurice Jardot, Picasso Zeichnungen, Stuttgart, 1959, illustrated pl. 39
Arthur Miller, The Drawings of Picasso, Los Angeles 1961, n.n.

Executed on cream wove paper. The edges of the sheet have been reinforced with tape. The sheet has been t-hinged to a mount at two places along the upper edge of its verso. The sheet is lightly time stained overall. There are pinholes in all four corners. There is a one inch scuff to the paper in the in the center of the right edge.
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 was executed in the summer of 1914, immediately prior to the outbreak of World War I, when Picasso and his lover Eve Gouel stayed for a few months in the medieval city of Avignon. The period leading up to this had been tumultuous for Picasso. In 1911, his first lover Fernande Olivier began an affair with a young Futurist artist, Ubaldo Oppi, and by the following year they were separated. Soon after Fernande began her affair Picasso and Gouel, who were then living with fellow cubist Louis Marcoussis, became romantically involved. In 1913 Picasso and Gouel traveled to Catalonia to visit his family with the intention of discussing marriage. In May of that year however, Picasso's father passed away and Gouel contracted tuberculosis soon after. Picasso and Gouel traveled to Avignon partially due to the latter's ultimately fatal diagnosis.

During his stay in Avignon, Picasso continued his experimentation with Cubism, executing sketches such as Fumeur assis à une table, which broke down the form of the sitter into a multitude of perspectives, as well as more finished brightly colored oils (see fig. 1). The incorporation of such a colorful palette into his Cubist canvases from this period was a departure from Picasso's mostly monochromatic works of 1908-12. These changes signify further evolution of the Cubist movement from a purely analytic style into a synthetic one as well as the influences of collage and papier collé, with which Picasso had been intensely occupied over the preceding two years.