巴布羅·畢加索

Estate of the artist

Marina Picasso

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris

Stephen Hahn, New York

Thence by descent 

Christian Zervos, ed., Picasso, 1930-1935, Paris, 1935, illustrated p. 99

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 7, Paris, 1955, no. 342, illustrated p. 143 (as dating from 1931)

Carsten-Peter Warncke, Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, vol. 1, Cologne, 1994, illustrated in color p. 21

The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture, Surrealism, 1930-1936, San Francisco, 1997, no. 31-106, illustrated p. 47 (incorrectly dating from Winter 1931)

Very good condition. Original canvas. The pigment is fresh and the paint layer is stable. Under UV, there are specks of faint retouching above and in the white tail of the bird on the top, below the black wing; a hairline retouching above the bottom bird's beak and at the right of the red tail along the framing edge, as well as 2 spots at the top right framing 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.

Painted on May 14, 1932 at the height of his clandestine affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter, the present composition is one of Picasso's symbolically-loaded works from this dramatic period of his life.  Two birds in flight are in pursuit of their prey, with one having already succeeded in capturing a worm.  The picture is one of the clearest metaphorical representations of his love life, contrasting the fair and victorious Marie-Thérèse with a dark and flailing Olga.  

Stylistically, the picture is anomalous among Picasso's production during these months, which included depictions of his estate at Boisgeloup, drawings for the Vollard suite, brutally abstracted images of Olga and, perhaps most famously, sensuously organic images of Marie Thérèse.   The subject here call to mind Braque's canvases of birds during this period, of which Picasso would have no doubt been aware.  The angularity and sharpness of forms can also be likened to the linear iron sculptures of Julio Gonzalez, with whom Picasso had collaborated in the late 1920s.  Having presumably not seen the date on the stretcher of this canvas, Zervos dated this work to 1931, perhaps because of the similarities in tonality it had to other works of that year.  Picasso's most significant productions of that year were the large plaster busts of Marie-Thérèse that he completed in the carriage house a Boisgeloup, which are famously featured in the stark black and white photographs taken by Brassai.  The dramatic contrast of the white plaster within the darkened interior of the studio informed his palette during these months, and some of his most inspired compositions feature this dramatic black and white tonality.