Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Tête

Details

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Tête
signed 'Picasso' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
18¼ x 15 in. (46.1 x 38.1 cm.)
Painted in Paris, spring 1911

Provenance

Wilhelm Uhde, Paris; sale, Drouot, Paris, 30 May 1921, lot 52.
Mark Van Waay, Amsterdam (December 1973).
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above).
Galería Multitud, Madrid.
Acquired by the present owner, 1989.

Literature

C. Zervos Pablo Picasso, Paris, 1974, vol. 8, no. 79 (illustrated, pl. 36; dated 1912).
P. Daix and J. Rosselet, Picasso, The Cubist Years 1907-1916: A Catalogue of the Paintings and Related Works, London, 1979, p. 264, no. 395 (illustrated).

Exhibited

Almelo, The Netherlands, Van Daumier tot Picasso un Twents part. bezit., 1956, no. 108.
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Picasso, March-April 1967, no. 25 (illustrated).
Madrid, Fundation Juan March and Barcelona, Palacio Meca (no. 10), Picasso, September 1977-January 1978, no. 8 (illustrated in color; dated 1912).
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Petits formats, May-July 1978, no. 118 (illustrated in color).
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Houston, The Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston; and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Picasso, Braque, Lèger: Masterpieces from Swiss Collections, October 1975-May 1976, p. 13, no. 11 (dated 1912).
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Picasso--A Centennial Selection, April-July 1981, p. 45, no. 10 (illustrated in color).
Vienna, Rathaus, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973): Bilder, Zeichnung, Plastiken, November 1981-January 1982 (illustrated in color).
Tokyo, Musée Isetan and Miyazaki, Prefectoral Museum, Montparnasse, Les ateliers du genie, April-June 1983, no. 55 (illustrated in color).

Sale room notice

Please note the correct PROVENANCE:
Wilhelm Uhde, Paris; sale, Drouot, Paris, 30 May 1921, lot 52.
Anon. sale, Kunstveilingen Mak Van Waay, Amsterdam 14 December 1973, lot 277.
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above).
Galería Multitud, Madrid.
Acquired by the present owner, 1989.

Please note the correct LITERATURE:
C. Zervos Pablo Picasso, Paris, 1974, vol. 8, no. 79 (illustrated, pl. 36; dated 1912).
P. Daix and J. Rosselet, Picasso, The Cubist Years 1907-1916: A Catalogue of the Paintings and Related Works, London, 1979, p. 264, no. 395 (illustrated).
T. J. Clark, Farewell to an Idea, Episodes from a History of Modernism, New Haven, 1999 (illustrated).

Lot Essay

When Picasso returned to Paris from the Spanish coastal town of Cadaquès in the autumn of 1910, he produced some of his most abstract and hermetic paintings. It was at this time that he and fellow artist Georges Braque developed the style now known as Analytical Cubism. Tête dates from this pivotal point in the artist's career. At around this time, he became skilled with the turpentine-soaked rag and would continually wipe out passages and later rework them; Picasso's use of the turpentine-soaked rag is what gives the surface of Tête its remarkable breadth. A time of intense creativity as well as rivalry between Picasso and Braque, both artists were seeking a new artistic language, a new kind of painting--an "anonymous art".

Wilhelm Uhde, the German critic and collector, was the first owner of Tête. During World War I, the French government instated a law granting itself authority to take possession of all property belonging to enemy aliens, thus the great Uhde collection was dispersed at auction. As Uhde stated:

Picasso's Analytic Cubism--'ecstatic, sad, troubling'--is a 'vertical architectural art' that constitutes 'the second great manifestation of the Gothic spirit in France'. From the 'imprecise, atmospheric backgrounds' of Picasso's high Cubist pictures emerge scaffoldings that 'come together in the foreground as Gothic structures' (quoted in ibid., p. 46).

More from 20th Century Art (Evening Sale)

View All