.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Discussing his late drawings with Roberto Otero, Picasso explained the development of the narratives as he tapped into his world of whimsy. These characters are propelled by the artist's own imagination, an internal narrative develops, there is an organic process of creation as the characters almost prompt Picasso:
"Of course, one never knows what's going to come out, but as soon as the drawing gets underway, a story or an idea is born. And that's it. Then the story grows, like theatre or life and the drawing is turned into other drawings, a real novel. It's great fun, believe me. At least, I enjoy myself no end inventing these stories, and I spend hour after hour while I draw, observing my creatures and thinking about the mad things they're up to. Basically, it's my way of writing fiction" (quoted in R. Otero, Forever Picasso: An Intimate Look at His Last Years, trans. E. Kerrigan, New York, 1974, p. 171).
The present sheet accordingly comprises disparate archetypal figures--the kneeling female nude at left, two elderly visages at center, the bearded profile at lower right and large silhouetted profile superimposed over what appears to be one of the artist's mousquetaires, signaled by the protruding buckled shoes and the dim outline of his hat. The dark profile's scale and blurry outline situate its figure in the foreground and invite us to share his view. Writing two years after Personnages was executed, Karl Gallwitz observed: "By eliminating the usual distance from the subject, he forces the viewer to confront the picture directly. Liberties he seems to have taken in combining details, parts of the body, or movements turn out to be compelling and 'natural' when we place ourselves in the painter's position, who no longer tolerates any separating gap. Now the viewers as well as the pipe-smokers and muskateers, lovers and portrait heads are forced into the almost frightening situation of having to 'squat down their noses'... The figures are held up to us like a mirror pressed into our face, enlarging and distorting the image" (Picasso at 90: The Late Work, New York, 1971, pp. 185-186).
"Of course, one never knows what's going to come out, but as soon as the drawing gets underway, a story or an idea is born. And that's it. Then the story grows, like theatre or life and the drawing is turned into other drawings, a real novel. It's great fun, believe me. At least, I enjoy myself no end inventing these stories, and I spend hour after hour while I draw, observing my creatures and thinking about the mad things they're up to. Basically, it's my way of writing fiction" (quoted in R. Otero, Forever Picasso: An Intimate Look at His Last Years, trans. E. Kerrigan, New York, 1974, p. 171).
The present sheet accordingly comprises disparate archetypal figures--the kneeling female nude at left, two elderly visages at center, the bearded profile at lower right and large silhouetted profile superimposed over what appears to be one of the artist's mousquetaires, signaled by the protruding buckled shoes and the dim outline of his hat. The dark profile's scale and blurry outline situate its figure in the foreground and invite us to share his view. Writing two years after Personnages was executed, Karl Gallwitz observed: "By eliminating the usual distance from the subject, he forces the viewer to confront the picture directly. Liberties he seems to have taken in combining details, parts of the body, or movements turn out to be compelling and 'natural' when we place ourselves in the painter's position, who no longer tolerates any separating gap. Now the viewers as well as the pipe-smokers and muskateers, lovers and portrait heads are forced into the almost frightening situation of having to 'squat down their noses'... The figures are held up to us like a mirror pressed into our face, enlarging and distorting the image" (Picasso at 90: The Late Work, New York, 1971, pp. 185-186).