Jeune fille au paradis

Details

Francis Picabia (1879-1953)
Jeune fille au paradis
signed 'Francis Picabia' (lower right); titled and inscribed 'Barcelone Jeune fille au Paradis' (lower left)
gouache, watercolour and pencil on paper
34 x 29½ in. (86.5 x 75 cm.)
Executed circa 1927-1928

Provenance

Théophile Briant, Paris, by 1928 (no. 10489).
Georges Hugnet, by 1962.
Anonymous sale, Couturier & Nicolay, Paris, 14 March 1975, lot 19.
Anonymous sale, Guy Loudmer, Paris, 2 December 1976, lot 40.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature

M. Sanouillet, Picabia, Paris, 1964 (illustrated p. 119).
W. Camfield, Francis Picabia: His Art, Life and Times, Princeton, 1979, no. 303, p. 231 (illustrated).
M.L. Borràs, Picabia, London, 1985, no. 500, p. 522 (illustrated fig. 677, p. 353).

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Théophile Briant, Francis Picabia, October - November 1928, no. 2.
Marseille, Musée Cantini, Picabia, March - May 1962, no. 53.
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Francis Picabia, January - March 1976, no. 180 (illustrated p. 146).
Paris, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Francis Picabia, singulier idéal, November 2002 - March 2003 (illustrated p. 237).

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale Room Notice

Please note that this work is signed 'Francis Picabia' (lower right); titled and inscribed 'Barcelone Jeune fille au Paradis' (lower left)

Lot Essay

In a statement about the Transparencies that Picabia made for the introduction of these works at his exhibition at Rosenberg's gallery in December 1930, Picabia humorously suggested that these works, as expressions of 'inner desire', were, ultimately, fiercely personal visions to be read and understood only by himself alone.

'I worked for months and years making use of nature, copying it. Now it is my nature that I copy, that I try to express. I was once feverish over calculated inventions, now it is my instinct that guides me... these transparencies with their corner of oubliettes permit me to express for myself the resemblance of my interior desires... I want a painting where all my instincts may have a free course... Those who have said ... that "I do not enter the line of account" are right. I take no part in no addition and recount my life to myself alone' (F. Picabia, introduction to the catalogue of the exhibition Francis Picabia, Léonce Rosenberg, Paris, 9-31 December 1930).

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